Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Minister for Employment's oral contribution of 19 July 2017, Official Report, column 823, whether trade unions have been informed that no job losses will result from the proposed closure of jobcentres in Scotland; and how many additional staff will be recruited as front line staff and work coaches.

Trade Unions have been informed that we will seek to relocate or offer alternative roles to all DWP employees impacted by office closures across the DWP estate. But in some cases, this may not be reasonable and redundancies may be required. Although we are reducing the number of offices, this is not about reducing frontline jobs. Since 1 April 2017 we have recruited approx. 2,230 (up to 31 August) staff into key Operations roles and, in every nation and region, there will be an increase in Jobcentre Plus staff from the beginning of this process to its end.