Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average response time is for correspondence from members of the public and from Members of Parliament acting on behalf of their constituents; what targets are in place for responding to correspondence; and what steps the Department is taking to ensure that enquiries submitted via MPs’ offices are acknowledged and replied to promptly.

MP enquiries continue to be treated as a matter of high priority. There is clear guidance avail-able to all staff regarding the expected timeframe for responding to enquiries from MPs, which is accessible via the Department’s intranet.

The Department for Work and Pensions aims to respond to MP enquiries within 15 working days. Where this is not feasible, such as in complex cases, the Department remains committed to providing a response at the earliest opportunity.

Higher volumes of MP enquiries combined with a rise in more complex complaints, which take longer to investigate, has caused some delays with our responses. We are in the process of recruiting more complaint handlers to reduce our response times.

Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here:

Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK