To clarify the above, not only would the departments not communicate with each other - they SHOULDN'T communicate with each other.(posted 8245 days ago)My mother worked for a set of chambers for many years, and very often barristers at the same chambers would handle cases where one barrister represented one side and another barrister the other. My mother would often prepare/work on documents for both sides. She had to be extremely careful to keep the two sides seperate (chinese walls), not letting anyone else know anything.
Similarly, if, somehow DLA had refused your mortgage application because of your (unresolved) dispute with the Abbey, then you could almost certainly have sued, with a virtually watertight case. This is similar to, and regarded in the same way as spending money in a client account...
I've rambled a bit, but hope this helps.