The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Ruth Owen:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints regarding Jobcentre Plus have been received in each month for the last two years. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mel Groves as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Mel Groves is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
The information requested is in the following table below.
Total customer complaints April 2007 3,906 May 2007 4,268 June 2007 3,972 July 2007 4,187 August 2007 4,345 September 2007 3,547 October 2007 4,144 November 2007 3,946 December 2007 3,093 January 2008 3,822 February 2008 3,520 March 2008 3,102 April 2008 3,373 May 2008 2,950 June 2008 3,637 July 2008 4,064 August 2008 3,608 September 2008 3,652 October 2008 4,051 November 2008 3,493 December 2008 3,294 January 2009 3,860 February 2009 4,219 March 2009 5,001 Source: Jobcentre Plus
By way of context to these figures, Jobcentre Plus currently has over four and a half million customers. Every working day, Jobcentre Plus conducts 45,000 adviser interviews, processes over 18,000 new benefit claims, and Contact Centres receive over 93,000 calls.