[holding answer 26 July 2007]: The information available is recorded in the following table and provides the number of staff, expressed as ‘full time equivalents' (FTE)1, employed in call centres as at 1 April for each year.
1 Many contact centre staff work part time, FTE is a means of expressing staff numbers in a consistent way (for example two staff working 0.5 x standard working hours is equivalent to one FTE).
Jobcentre Plus1 The Pension Service2 Disability and Carers Service3 Child Support Agency Debt Management 1998 — — 108.27 — — 1999 — — 125.31 — — 2000 — — 128.84 — — 2001 — — 446.63 — — 2002 — — 459.44 — — 2003 — — 456.22 — — 2004 2,118.39 — 529.25 562.36 — 2005 3,992.56 10,216 582.87 481.96 475.13 2006 6,075.73 8,566 511.95 541.75 387.37 2007 6,382.54 8,175 515.88 508.04 440.63 1 Jobcentre Plus information details the position at March in each year. 2 The Pension Service operates an integrated business model, where Pension Centres perform both contact centre and claims processing functions. It is not possible to make precise allocations between the functions. Information provided includes telephony, processing, support and management. 3 Disability and Carers information up to 20000-01 is for Benefit Enquiry Line only. Information from 2001-02 includes the Disability Helpline and Benefit Enquiry Line.