Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to protect sensitive information from being shared by performance measurement review officers when visiting a claimant who lives in shared accommodation.

Performance Measurement staff, like all DWP staff, follow the processes and policies the Department has in place to safeguard claimant’s information. This includes undertaking the Responsible for Information Security learning. They understand the Handling Official Information and follow the guidance on this and Remote Working Securely. Their line managers also carry out validation checks to ensure that they are compliant with the necessary processes. In all cases when visiting a claimant to undertake a review they request evidence verification to ensure they are speaking to the right person before proceeding with the review interview.