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Jobcentre Plus

Answer

The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.Letter from Lesley Strathie, dated 12 December 2005:"The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning the measures used to assist Employment Service and Benefits Agency staff in the cultural transition to Jobcentre Plus and the assessments made on staff feedback related to this transition. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive.""The Jobcentre Plus programme, called ‘Pulling Together', was at the heart of our aim to create and sustain a unified culture within Jobcentre Plus. It was delivered in every Jobcentre Plus site and its objectives were:""Embedding the DWP Values in all teams—Our Values are, Achieving the Best, Making a Difference, Looking Outwards and Respecting People""Developing leadership skills""Giving our people the tools and support to build the new culture""Improving the level of customer service""Sharing good practice so that teams would take forward the best of both legacy agencies""The spirit of Pulling Together was established as being something for local units to implement, with a deliberately ‘light touch' from the centre. Fundamental to Pulling Together activity was the development of action plans to address local issues linked to the programme's key objectives. Facilitated planning sessions provided the opportunity for our people to consider issues relating to their transition to Jobcentre Plus. Any issues which could not be resolved locally, were fed up the line for resolution at either regional or national level.""Following the success of the Pulling Together programme we have recently launched our new Culture Change programme, called Working Together which focuses on providing our managers with the support, resilience and tools they need to lead their people through change. It also addresses the cultural issues emerging from our staff survey results.""The annual DWP Staff Attitude Survey provides a key mechanism for our people to comment on a range of important issues. I will arrange for a copy of the 2004 survey and the key actions we took in response, to be placed in the House of Commons Library. This feedback enables us to identify those areas where we can take action to address emerging issues and improve our working environment.""These annual surveys provide a good picture of how things are working and changing across our business. We place great importance on the feedback received from our people and are always looking to improve the way we capture this information.""I hope this is helpful."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

440 c1772-3W;440 c1772-3W; 34388

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Jobcentre Plus Social Security Benefits Agency Employment Service