Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase (a) translation and (b) levels of information support on the benefits system for disabled refugees.
Under the Equality Act 2010, DWP must make suitable provision to communicate with claimants where English is not their first language or who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. DWP provide Telephone Interpreting, Face-to-face interpreting, BSL interpreting service, Video Remote Services, and written translation to meet this requirement. The Language Service Provision is on-demand, and our supplier is suitably resourced to meet our various language demands against our Performance Expectations. We have a designated Language Services team that work closely with our supplier to ensure current service delivery is met and accounted for, and to ensure future demand is anticipated and planned for accordingly.