Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the time taken to respond to casework queries from Members of Parliament.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department recognises that the recent increase in the volume of MP enquiries, alongside a rise in the complexity of cases requiring more detailed investigation, has contributed to delays in meeting our standard response timescales.

To address this, the Department has taken a number of steps to improve the timeliness and efficiency of responses to MP enquiries:

• Additional resource has been deployed to our complaints and correspondence teams, with ongoing monitoring of the impact on response times.
• The Universal Credit MP hotline service has been streamlined through the introduction of a single national contact number, improving accessibility and consistency.
• Guidance on the W4MP website has been updated to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of the appropriate contact numbers for each benefit product line.
• Recruitment is underway for additional Universal Credit complaint handlers to support efforts to reduce the volume of outstanding enquiries and improve response times.

Found: Paul Holmes (Con) responded to the statement in the Chamber, saying: Only two days ago, when asked,