Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2016 to Question 51046, how many complaints have been accepted for investigation by the Independent Case Examiner's Office but not yet allocated to an investigation case manager.

Once a complaint has been accepted for investigation, the ICE Office will consider whether a solution to the complaint can be brokered with the relevant department or its supplier without having to request evidence from the relevant department or supplier, and the complainant – know as “resolution”. If it is not possible resolve the complaint, the evidence will be requested and the case will await allocation to an Investigation Case Manager.

Complaints are brought into investigation in strict date order, based on the date the complaint was accepted for examination. The number of cases awaiting allocation to an Investigation Case Manager changes from day to day, on 10^th November 2016 there were 818 complaints awaiting allocation. The ICE Office will settle some of these to the satisfaction of the complainant without needing to allocate them to an Investigation Case Manager.