Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure its services are available online; and if he will make a statement.

The Department for Work and Pensions currently provides digital options for a number of services. For example, it has been possible to claim Jobseekers Allowance online since 2009 and as of Oct 2014 87.1% of all new claims are now made through that channel[1] and over 90% of Universal Credit claimants are making their claim online[2].

The Department for Work and Pensions’ Digital Strategy committed to redesigning all services that handle over 100,000 transactions a year which will enable the provision of high quality digital services to claimants and the public.

Carer’s Allowance digital service which has been in public beta since October 2013 and has recently successfully completed its go live assessment.

We are currently building an in-depth understanding of Personal Independence Payment service to see which parts of the process might best be delivered through digital channels.

In addition we are developing a digital service for New State Pension and are looking more broadly at further transformation to improve efficiency and good customer service, which will involve exploring further opportunities to put services online.

[1] DWP Business Plan transparency measure: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-business-plan-transparency-measures/dwp-business-plan-transparency-measures#proportion-of-new-claims-to-jsa-submitted-online

[2] UC at Work October 2014, page 42: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368805/uc-at-work.pdf