Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to extend the Post Office card account customer cash delivery service to Wales.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The responsibility for any card account customer cash delivery service poca for customers living in Wales is a matter for Welsh Government.
The alternative method of payment service, including cash by exception, run during the COVID-19 Pandemic has been offered to DWP customers in England who are not paid by the Department’s standard payment methods and have been required to follow the Shielding guidance provided by NHS England.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was for a substantive response to letters to her office from hon. Members in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not available in the format requested.
The volume of correspondence to the Department’s Ministers is currently three times higher than it was prior to the coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks the Department has also redeployed thousands of staff to manage the significant increase in claims for benefits and to ensure that claimants are paid in a timely manner. The Department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised and is taking steps to provide substantive replies in as short a time as possible.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to enable its officials to work from home during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to supporting everyone during this unprecedented time.
Where colleagues can effectively contribute to this effort working from home then they are doing so. Not all colleagues can work from home because they need to access equipment, programmes and support to enable them to do their telephony and processing work. We are requiring these employees to be in the office but in line with the Government’s advice on critical workers, we are taking all practical steps to protect the health and safety of colleagues working in our offices.
The Department has procured significantly more portable computers to expand our home working capacity. Colleagues who require specialist IT equipment for accessibility reasons are able to order this for use at home and those who are in the vulnerable or shielding category can have it delivered to their home address.