Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average response time was of Veterans UK to queries raised with them by veterans in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Dunne

The information requested is not held. However, between 1 April and 30 September 2015, the Veterans UK Helpline received a total of 79,636 calls, answered within an average of two minutes 17 seconds. A total of 18,638 emails and approximately 84,500 letters (all correspondence received via the Norcross Post Room – it is not possible to filter out Veteran UK queries, from claim forms and post for other areas of Defence Business Services), were received and acknowledged within five working days with a full response expected to be issued within 10 working days.

Over the same period the Veterans Welfare Service addressed 10,448 queries. A total of 27 per cent were resolved at first point of contact, with the remainder being immediately referred to Welfare Managers for follow up visits; arranged within 10 working days.