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Dept for Work and Pensions

Answer

Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the locations of debt recovery centres within his Department and those after the planned reductions. [37018] Malcolm Wicks: Debt Management Services, a unit within the Department, currently has responsibility for approximately 1,800 staff based in 127 sites across the country. These sites are generally co-located with existing Benefits Agency offices. The plan is to consolidate these units into 10 debt centres over the period ending March 2005. Departmental staff outside Debt Management Services also process overpayment work for the benefits administered centrally, such as Retirement Pension. This work is carried out at a further three sites, and is currently under review. Details of the current and planned future sites are in the following list. Current locations for debt processing work Barking Twickenham Hackney Bedford Norwich Slough New Forest Chichester Weymouth Plymouth Derby Nottingham Perry Barr Hereford Wolverhampton Wrexham Porth Barrow Warrington Crewe Salford Hull Mexborough Hemsworth Gateshead Sunderland Glasgow City Newlands Irvine Falkirk Bathgate Balham Hounslow Glasgow (for Ealing and Euston) Watford High Wycombe Bury St. Edmonds Peterborough Isle of Wight Bath Gloucester Chippenham Skegness Lincoln Halesowen Shrewsbury Cwmbran Newtown Swansea Toxteth Whitehaven Skelmersdale Keighley Leeds Sheffield Durham Stockton Annisland Bridgeton Stornoway Dumfries Peterhead Dundee Poplar Stratford Belfast (for Neasden and South Circular) Wood Green Stevenage Corby Bexley Hastings St. Austell Bristol Lichfield Loughborough Edgbaston Smethwick Walsall Cardiff Caernarfon Blackpool Breckfield Preston Birkenhead Bradford York Doncaster Newcastle Middlesbrough Greenock Springburn Ayr Galashiels Motherwell Perth Harlow Ilford Ashton in Makerfield (for Palace) Edgware Clacton Oxford Lewes Portsmouth Barnstaple Taunton Worksop Sutton in Ashfield Sparkhill Coventry Nuneaton Merthyr Pembroke Dock Kirkby Widnes Southport Chorlton Dewsbury Rotherham Barnsley Hexham Hartlepool Renfrew Cranstonhill Stranraer Cowdenbeath Bellshill. Sites were benefits are currently administered centrally: Blackpool, Washington and Newcastle. Proposed locations for debt centres: Chorlton, Porth, Stornoway, Nuneaton, Ashton in Makerfield, Corby, Dearne Valley, Bradford, Glasgow and Salford.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

37018; 381 c415-7W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Debts Department for Work and Pensions Overpayments Location Offices Social security benefits Repayments

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk