Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the shortest wait time was between a person submitting an Access to Work application and receiving initial contact from his Department in the last (a) six and (b) 12 months.

In response to what the shortest wait time was between an individual submitting an Access to Work application and receiving initial contact from the Department in the last (a) six and (b) twelve months, the shortest time for both periods is one day.

Customers making new applications where they are starting work within the next 4 weeks or have a grant coming to an end that requires renewal are prioritised to ensure customers can enter, make changes or move within the labour market.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.