Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on delivering its Excellence Plan since its introduction; what work his Department has undertaken to deliver that plan; and what outcomes have been achieved to date.

In 2019 the Department made a bid, through the Spending Review process, for additional funding in the financial year 20/21 to implement the Excellence Plan. This funding was to improve support for vulnerable customers and their interactions with the Department.

In March 2020, prior to the beginning of the 20/21 financial year, and like many other organisations, we had to reprioritise our operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the following work has been undertaken in the time since.

We have introduced more than 30 Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders (ACSSLs) who have now been appointed across Great Britain.

The Department has also created central teams in the Customer Experience Directorate to focus on strategically supporting our most vulnerable customers.

In August 2020 the Internal Process Review Group was established to increase oversight of Internal Process Reviews at a more senior level.

The Serious Case Panel was set up in late 2019 to consider systemic themes and issues that have arisen from serious cases.