When we asked the Department what positive assurance it obtained that the system was working and that it was paying people on time and the right amount, it set out the three quality assurance tiers and that said that its focus was on areas with higher error rates. The Department added that the Department responded to the issue significantly more quickly than previous correction exercises as a result of governance improvements. The Department said that, over time, it hoped to become better at identifying small-scale 16 Q 123 17 Q 3, Letter from Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work & Pensions to the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, dated 15 November 2021. 18 Qq 30–33, 35–39, 84–89 19 C&AG’s Report; para 11 20 C&AG’s Report; paras 2.10, 2.11 21 Q 40 22 Q 2; Letter from Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work & Pensions to the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, dated 15 November 2021. 12 Underpayments of the State Pension errors that may mask more systemic issues and to use more innovative analytical methods coupled with human quality assessment to improve customer experience.23 For instance, in its follow-up letter to us after the evidence session the Department said that it deployed automation of some processes to improve the processing of letters sent out to customers.24 However, the management information is still lacking in areas such as reporting on State Pension enquiries and complaints and the Department acknowledged that it ‘will not eliminate all official error anywhere across the Department’ despite the exercise it is going through’.25 23 Qq 35, 41 24 Q 2; Letter from Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work & Pensions to the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, dated 15 November 2021. 25 Qq 100, 113–117 Underpayments of the State Pension 13 2 State Pension correction exercise