Amess enquires into JobCentre Plus activities
Southend West Conservative MP David Amess has asked for information regarding the activity of JobCentre Plus since the recession hit.
Mr Amess wrote to the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions Tony McNulty, who passed his request on to the acting chief executive of JobCentre Plus, Mel Groves.
Mr Amess asked: “how many jobcentres were opened, relocated and closed in each of the last 12 months” and “under what circumstances jobcentres are opened, relocated and closed.”
Mr Groves wrote a letter to Mr Amess explaining the position of JobCentre Plus, first informing Mr Amess that all information on openings, closures and relocations has been placed in the Parliamentary library.
Mr Groves went on to give a more detailed picture of the organisation’s activities in the past year.
On the closure of JobCentres, he wrote: “Our approach to closure of a customer-facing Jobcentre takes into account any impact on customer service and the relocation of the work and staff of the closing office.
“When considering site closures we are committed to full consultation with our customers, partner organisations, Trade Unions, staff, and local Members of Parliament.
“In light of the emerging economic downturn pressures we decided to suspend the planned closure of 25 Jobcentres.
“There has been a further closure of three small sites in London during March 2009. These had been announced last summer prior to the decision to suspend future closures.
“There will be no new Jobcentre closures while the current economic conditions persist.”
Mr Groves went on to outline the size and reach of the organisation: “Jobcentre Plus inherited around 1,500 offices from the merger of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service in 2002.
“We have modernised our Jobcentre network to improve customer service, rationalising our estate to provide excellent high street coverage and a single, integrated customer facing office, at the same time reducing cost to the tax payer.
“We remain the largest office network in Government with 741 modern Jobcentres. This high street presence is supported by 31 modern contact centres and 79 main benefit processing centres.”
In addition, Mr Groves explained that JobCentre Plus has attempted to improve accessibility and service delivery through telephone and internet services, as well as the additional 6,000 staff planned to be recruited soon.
He said: “Whilst Jobcentre Plus will have an additional 6,000 staff in the next operational year we do not yet have the detailed plans on their deployment.
“However, it is anticipated that more than half of these will be Personal Advisers and others will be in customer intervention and support roles within our customer service operations.”
