24 March 2006
The permanent secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions this week rejected claims that his organisation is 'in crisis' following a series of damaging reports – but acknowledged that the DWP was blighted by problems last year.
In an interview with Public Finance, Leigh Lewis, who took over as DWP permanent secretary last September, said he regretted that there were 'some significant service problems' at DWP-linked organisations such as Jobcentre Plus offices in 2005. But he claimed that 'those problems are now almost totally behind us'.
The Commons work and pensions select committee last week reported that the huge efficiency agenda at Jobcentre Plus, which aims to save the DWP £1bn annually by 2008, had led to a 'catastrophic failure' in services last year, partly fuelled by poor planning.
Benefit claimants, a committee report on March 18 states, had encountered 'truly appalling levels of service.' Many were forced to go for weeks without payments and some were left waiting outside public phones to hear whether they could be granted emergency loans.
Relationships between the department and its private and voluntary partners were 'near breakdown' because of 'deeply flawed' procurement processes, MPs claimed.
Civil service union leaders claimed in February that the DWP was in crisis as a result of problems with its huge modernisation plan, exacerbated by plans to cut 30,000 staff as part of the efficiency plan.
Staff shortages, and continued problems with IT systems were highlighted by MPs as contributing to the DWP's difficulties. The committee, chaired by Labour's Terry Rooney, called on Lewis to slow down the job cuts because 'too much has been done too quickly'.
But Lewis told PF that it was possible to reduce the departmental head count while new IT, management and delivery systems were embedded.
'I don't think at the moment we see any case for slowing down the modernisation programme. I certainly accept that we've got a big and demanding agenda, but I don't remotely think it is unmanageable,' he said.
'Inevitably, there's a huge range of IT projects and I wouldn't pretend to you that there are no problems.
'But we've got some absolutely massive successes under our belt already, such as the reform of the way payments are made to claimants, and I aim to ensure that continues.'
The MPs' report came after National Audit Office accusations that the DWP missed around 21 million inquiries to its call centres, often operated by private partners, last year.
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