Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department for Work and Pensions has target times by which members of the public can reasonably expect to get through on the telephone and speak to an official; by what percentage extent there has been a change over the past three years in the number of telephone calls from the public seeking information or assistance from the Department for Work and Pensions; and what training in communication skills is provided for the officials in that Department.

The current targets across DWP for answering telephone calls from the public are:

· Working Age Benefits - 2 minutes (with the exception of Universal Credit which is 1 minute 30 seconds).

· State Pension, State Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carers Allowance - 1 minute 30 seconds.

· Child Maintenance Group - 1 minute.

We are unable to provide information relating to the request for a percentage change over the past three years in the number of telephone calls from the public, as prior to April 2013, reporting was produced through the telephony platform itself. As the platform has a 14 rolling month data retention policy, and no robust archive of data was maintained at this time, robust data is not available for this period.

All staff working in the Department for Work and Pensions who are new to delivering phone services receive job specific training which includes communication skills. New members of staff also have the opportunity to observe experienced staff allowing them to pick up a range of communication skills from experienced Agents.