Social Security Commissioners

Mr. Goodwill
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the target time is for responses to queries referred to the Social Security Commissioners; and what the most recent figure is for the time taken to respond to such queries.

Mr. Sutcliffe
I have been asked to reply.

We aim to deal with correspondence within 10 working days. Obviously this may depend upon the complexity of the query. The weekly statistics for week commencing 28 May 2007 show that 97 per cent. of correspondence was dealt within 10 days.

I have been informed that the question is regarding a complaint. The MOJ definition of a complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction with service or facilities that needs a response. Our target for answering complaints is 10 days.