Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Serco's performance against key performance indicators in their Functional Assessment Services contract.

Serco secured the Functional Assessment Services (FAS) contract for Lot 3 (south-west England) through a competitive and transparent procurement under the Public Contract Regulations in line with Government policies. Serco strives to provide an excellent service to claimants and are held to account for their performance.

The contract with Serco is robustly managed to obtain optimal performance, with a dedicated performance management team monitoring performance on an ongoing basis. DWP does not use key performance indicators in the FAS contract; instead, we monitor performance through the achievement of Target Performance Levels (TPLs) and Volume Clearance Targets (VCTs). As the contract is still relatively new, we do not yet have sufficient data to share a full assessment of Serco's performance. However, plans are being developed for a routine statistics publication.

We are working hard to ensure all services are delivered to a high standard for customers and we have sufficient controls in place to quickly identify any future deterioration.