Some time ago (November 2008) I sent a letter to Mr. Drew MP pointing out that the information the minister (Mr McNulty MP) had been given by Lesley Strathie (of Jobcentre) was inaccurate. Today (21 March 2009) I received the letter sent to Mr Drew from the Minister commenting on my complaint. I have copied below the original answer given by the Minister and the Letter from the Minister to Mr Drew.
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House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 27 Oct 2008 (pt 0023)
Department of Work and Pensions
27 Oct 2008 : Column 701W
Social Security Benefits: Telephone Services
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) on what date the decision was made to charge clients for telephone calls to the 0845 number for the benefits delivery centre at St. Austell; and for what reason the decision was made; [227365]
(2) what revenue Jobcentre Plus has received from the operation of the 0845 number of the benefits delivery centre at St. Austell in each of the last three years; and how this revenue has been allocated. [227366]
Mr. McNulty: A holding reply was sent on 16 October 2008.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. I have asked her to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Lesley Strathie:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking on what date the decision was made to charge clients for telephone calls to the 0845 number for the benefits delivery centre at St Austell; and for what reason the decision was made and what revenue Jobcentre Plus has received from the operation of the 0845 number of the benefits delivery centre at St Austell in each of the last three years; and how this revenue has been allocated. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
In line with other DWP Contact Centres, the decision was made to move to 0845 numbers as Benefit Delivery Centres (BDCs) rolled out nationally. St Austell BDC started using 0845 numbers on 19 March 2007.
Jobcentre Plus made a decision to use 0845 numbers as opposed to geographical prefix numbers as these numbers will, in the main, be cheaper than calling a national rate number. The 0845 prefix also enables us to provide better customer service by recording call statistics, providing a call queuing function and playing automated announcements providing customer information.
The revenue received from 0845 numbers across the whole of DWP ceased in December 2007. We did not keep a breakdown of the revenue by business. The rebate from BT amounted to £0.5m per annum across DWP, some 0.007% of our annual budget and was used by DWP to re-invest in services.
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Letter dated 19 February 2009 from Minister to Mr. David Drew MP
Ref POS(2)10950/0165 Department for Works and Pensions, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1H 9DA [ email: ministers@dwp.gsi.gov.uk ]
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Thank you for your letter of 24 November concerning the reply to your written Parliamentary Questions 227365 and 227366 and the suggestion from Kevin Kearney that the letter from the Jobcentre Plus Chief Executive was in someway misleading. I am sorry for the delay in replying.
It is unclear why Mr Kearney believes that the Chief Executive's letter is untrue.
Whilst it is true that for many tariffs there is now a single national rate, it remains the case that these generally charge higher amounts for calls to geographical numbers than they do for 0845 numbers.
I accept there are some tariffs where the 0845 number charges are higher per minute, but as these tariffs generally involve a fixed periodical charge on top of any call charges, it makes direct comparison difficult.
It may interest Mr Kearney to know that BT publishes all its various tariffs and for those not signed up to one of its Call Plans, there is still a difference in charges for local-calls and national-calls. Additionally, in all but one of its published Call-Plan rates, landline calls to 0845 numbers are cheaper than calls to geographical numbers.
Of course, it remains the case that the 0845 prefix also enables us to provide better customer service by recording call statistics, providing a call queuing function and playing automated announcements providing customer information.
Tony McNulty.
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