Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he takes to monitor whether Work Programme prime providers fulfil their minimum service standards; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has developed a clearly defined compliance monitoring regime which commits to an appropriate level of checking for each of the 40 Work Programme contract package areas.

The compliance management team work closely with Work Programme performance managers to ensure clear factual information is available for consideration as part of monthly Contract Performance Reviews with providers.