Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on jobcentre users of the closure of Easterhouse Jobcentre.

Customers previously served by Easterhouse and Parkhead Jobcentres are now served by Shettleston Jobcentre.

Our DWP estate announcement on 5 July 2017 confirmed that some smaller Jobcentres would merge with larger ones, and others would be co-located in local government premises. Merging our staff and services from some smaller or underutilised jobcentres, into larger Jobcentres nearby, makes better use of space and reduces costs to the taxpayer while still maintaining the same excellent level of customer service.

We are committed to retaining a Jobcentre Plus network and continuing to serve throughout GB to make sure they can continue to access the Jobcentre Plus services they need.

When closing or merging a Jobcentre, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) undertake an equality analysis as part of the detailed planning for service reconfiguration. This will include feedback from public consultation in those locations where this applied.

As part of the pre closure consultation work MPs and MSPs were invited to attend meetings with the local Service Leader as part of the consultation exercise to allow them to present constituent concerns; links were established with the hospital and Local Housing Associations to raise awareness of the closures; Customer Surveys were carried out to gather insight and to address any concerns; DWP staff attended meetings at the local Citizens Advice Scotland with key stakeholders, including providers and landlords, with a view to communicating the change.

In addition, to this stakeholder events were held giving all our stakeholders the opportunity to feed in concerns.

Outreach work continues in Easterhouse at Greater Easterhouse and John Wheatly College Supporting Hands. Employer Advisers attend to weekly to provide updates on local vacancies and to help customers who wish to apply for these.

In Parkhead, we have set up a partnership with Cranhill Development Trust who attend Shettleston Jobcentre staff meetings and our staff also attend their meetings. This is a continual exchange of information on jobs and benefits to ensure the local community in Parkhead is supported.