Question
My constituent Denise lost her husband in September last year, and in the more than a year since she has been passed from pillar to post by Capita, as have many of my other impacted constituents. Now Capita tells me that it has lost the form that Denise submitted in January. Does the Minister share my disgust at this rank incompetence? Will she do everything she can to help Denise and my other constituents?50% point-scoring
Answer
I share my hon. Friend’s disgust. I will look into that case to ensure that Capita finds the paperwork, or if it must be re-sent, that it is actioned immediately. As my hon. Friend said, it is indicative of Capita’s total and utter incompetence. We need to bear in mind that this is why it is important that we stick to our manifesto commitment to have the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.25% point-scoring 25% vibes
Verdict: AMBER (68/100)
The Minister directly answered the first part of the question by agreeing with the MP that Capita's handling showed incompetence. On the second part, the Minister committed to look into the named constituent's case and press Capita to find or re-action the missing paperwork. The reply did not say what would be done for the MP's other affected constituents, and its mention of insourcing is a general policy point rather than help for those residents, so the MP may need to ask again on that point.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Minister share the MP's view that Capita's handling of the constituent's case, including the loss of her submitted form, amounts to rank incompetence? | Addressed | Direct | The Minister directly answers the question by agreeing with the MP ('I share my hon. Friend's disgust') and endorsing the characterisation of Capita's handling as 'total and utter incompetence', which addresses whether the handling amounts to incompetence. |
| Will the Minister do everything she can to help the constituent and the MP's other affected constituents? | Partially Addressed | Direct | The Minister gives a concrete commitment to look into the named constituent's case and to get Capita to find or re-action the paperwork, but says nothing about helping the MP's other affected constituents, so only part of the item is answered; the insourcing statement (seq 4) is a general policy point rather than help for constituents. |