Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made in enabling appointments with work coaches to be held by video.

Tests of the use of video for appointments with Universal Credit Work Coaches started in July and are currently being tested with claimants and Work Coaches in five job centres across the UK. Tests continue to inform understanding of the benefits to claimants and Work Coaches, to identify where barriers may exist for some claimants and to identify any limitations that may need to be overcome. The tests will inform any future evaluation of the use of video as part of the Department’s operating model.