Mr. Noel Hand:

Modern technology allows us in the Department to have the facility to be able to reach out and engage with CWOs. I have regular engagements with them at a national level but also out on the ground and meeting them when I am out and about. That ongoing engagement is happening all of the time directly with them through multiple channels. There is not only that engagement directly with staff but also with other organisations directly involved with the customers. The Deputy mentioned one of the organisations and I have also been meeting its representatives. They have undertaken member surveys as well on how the community welfare service has been operating. We have taken that feedback and we really try to respond directly to the issues that have been raised with us. My sense of it is that the service has improved over the course of 2022 and we are making every effort to try to make our service more responsive, more accessible, to improve processing times and to reduce wait times. All of those are important. At the end of the day, to get the claim decided and get the person paid is what we are really trying to do.