Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many apologies for administrative error have been issued by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office in each of the last five years.

We take this to be a request for information about the number of apologies issued by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office for its administrative failures, rather than a request for information about the number of apologies recommended by the Independents Case Examiner. The information is only available from 2015/16 onwards.

The Independent Case Examiner Office issued: 36 apologies in the 2015/16 reporting year; 40 apologies in the 2016/17 reporting year; and 21 apologies in the current reporting year (April 2017 to February 2018).