Bethan Jenkins: I also welcome the £3 million in extra resources going in to an awareness campaign on benefit take-up. My only concern is that the recent centralisation of services through the Department for Work and Pensions will severely hinder any development that we will be able to undertake in Wales. The Public and Commercial Services union has said that the new system is rigid and bureaucratic and that we are now moving towards telephone lines where 20 million people have been reported as not being able to access key services. What representations will you be making to your colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to this situation?
Brian Gibbons: There is an awareness that one of the big problems is not so much that people are unaware of their entitlements but of how to access those entitlements. Certainly, in the previous scheme on benefit uptake, the more successful organisations were those that gave real practical help to the claimants rather than simply attempting to increase awareness about entitlement. So, I would expect this scheme to build on that good practice and for the individual schemes to give real practical, pragmatic help to claimants so that they can overcome many of the problems that you have outlined.
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Bethan Jenkins: Yr wyf finnau’n croesawu’r £3 miliwn o adnoddau ychwanegol i’w rhoi mewn ymgyrch i godi ymwybyddiaeth pobl o hawlio budd-daliadau. Yr unig bryder sydd gennyf yw y gwnaiff y broses ddiweddar o ganoli gwasanaethau drwy’r Adran Gwaith a Phensiynau lesteirio’n ddifrifol unrhyw ddatblygiad y gallwn ei gyflawni yng Nghymru. Mae Undeb y Gwasanaethau Cyhoeddus a Masnachol wedi dweud bod y system newydd yn anhyblyg ac yn fiwrocrataidd a’n bod yn awr yn symud at linellau ffôn lle mae 20 miliwn o bobl wedi’u cofnodi fel pobl na allant hawlio budd-daliadau. Pa sylwadau y byddwch yn eu gwneud i’ch cyd-Weinidogion yn yr Adran Gwaith a Phensiynau yng nghyswllt y sefyllfa hon?
Brian Gibbons: Cydnabyddir mai un o’r problemau mawr yw nad yw pobl yn gwybod sut mae cael gafael ar eu hawliau yn hytrach na’r ffaith nad ydynt yn ymwybodol o’r hawliau hynny. Yn sicr, yn y cynllun blaenorol ar hawlio budd-daliadau, y mudiadau mwyaf llwyddiannus oedd y rheini a roddodd help ymarferol gwirioneddol i’r hawlwyr yn hytrach na chodi ymwybyddiaeth yn unig am hawliau. Felly, byddwn yn disgwyl i’r cynllun hwn adeiladu ar yr arfer da hwnnw a bod y cynlluniau unigol yn rhoi cymorth ymarferol, pragmatig, gwirioneddol i’r hawlwyr er mwyn iddynt allu goresgyn llawer o’r problemau yr ydych wedi’u hamlinellu.
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