Cable quizzes Ussher on 'distress cases'

9.33.56am GMT Wed 22nd Oct 2008

• VINCENT Cable (Deputy Party Leader; Twickenham, Liberal Democrat): What steps he is taking to co-ordinate the work of local jobcentres, the social fund and Jobcentre Plus to deal promptly with distress cases.

Kitty Ussher (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Burnley, Labour): Jobcentre Plus is well placed to deal with the current period of rising unemployment. It is able to manage current volumes and has put in place plans to function effectively if numbers increase further across all benefits including the social fund. Local jobcentres will continue to give people the support they need to move from benefits and into work.

Vincent Cable (Deputy Party Leader; Twickenham, Liberal Democrat): With growing numbers in a distressed situation because of joblessness, what can the Minister's Department do to improve the service currently given to people who are being refused face-to-face interviews, are told to use a helpline that never answers or is permanently engaged, and is at best highly impersonal and unco-ordinated? How can that situation be improved?

Kitty Ussher (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Burnley, Labour): As I have already said, we have measures in place to ensure that we are able to cope with any increased demand. I might hint that the hon. Gentleman's experience, as he relates it, does not fit with the experiences that my constituents report to me. He has talked of times of crisis: at the moment, urgent inquiries for living expenses, when people face particular difficulties and whether or not they have recently lost their job, are processed on average in 1.7 days. I would be interested to know how he thinks that we could improve on that.