Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that complaints to the Independent Case Examiner are being promptly investigated.

In the current financial year the Department provided additional funding to the Independent Case Examiner’s Office, to allow it to increase its headcount from 89 to 112. The recruitment and rigorous training of additional Investigation Case Mangers, to reduce the time complaints wait to be brought into investigation, is underway.