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1612761

registered interest
date	20/04/2023
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance is provided to health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for (a) Personal Independence Payment assessments (b) Work Capability Assessments.
tabling member constituency	Leicester South
tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
uin	181971
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2023 answer text <p>The department publishes <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-factual-medical-reports-guidance-for-healthcare-professionals/dwp-medical-factual-reports-a-guide-to-completion" target="_blank">guidance</a> for health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for Personal Independence Payment assessments and Work Capability Assessments, on GOV.UK.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 25/04/2023 10:05:48 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1611713

registered interest
date	18/04/2023
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's prior information notice of 5 April on Additional Healthcare Capacity, reference 2023/S 000-009884, fow what reason additional capacity is required.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow East
tabling member printed	David Linden
uin	181257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2023 answer text <p>This contract replaces an existing contract, which is coming to an end.</p><p> </p><p>The Health Transformation Programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service through our Health Transformation Area. This is a controlled safe environment where we can develop the service at small scale, exploring ideas from claimants, stakeholders and DWP staff. The healthcare professionals who deliver WCA and PIP assessments within the Health Transformation Area, are directly employed by the DWP.</p><p> </p><p>The new contract provides additional healthcare professionals, providing us with the flexibility to supplement the capacity as required to ensure we can continue to provide a stable service to meet the needs of claimants and to continue to test and build the new service.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 25/04/2023 15:30:01 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4640 label Biography information for David Linden

1610241

registered interest
date	14/04/2023
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, when his Department expects to complete its move to an IT system that will have the capability to record all assessments.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
uin	180374
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2023 answer text <p>During 2024, the department intends to move to a new telephony platform and make enhancements to the Video Assessment application, bringing the ability to record all assessments.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 19/04/2023 10:44:46 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1549820

registered interest
date	08/12/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of training provided to assessors who consider Personal Independence Payments and the Work Capability Assessments for disabled claimants.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	106417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2022 answer text <p>All assessment providers are required to ensure that all health professionals (HP) carrying out assessments have sufficient training and knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely overall functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments.</p><p> </p><p>To ensure a high standard is maintained the department has an Independent Audit function that continually monitors performance and provides feedback to providers. Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the HP. The check is completed against a set of guidelines to ensure a consistent approach is taken. This ensures that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified and sound, and provide sufficient information for the department to make an informed decision on entitlement to benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Providers work with the department to continuously improve assessment quality through a range of measures including audit procedures. We also measure the adequacy of HP training through customer satisfaction surveys undertaken by independent third parties. All providers have consistently exceeded their customer satisfaction targets of 90% for Personal Independence Payment and 92% for the Work Capability Assessment.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 13/12/2022 12:31:00 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1542986

registered interest
date	16/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 80819, how many times his Department visited assessment centres to help audit the performance of providers in each year from 2015 to 2022.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	88965
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not available. We have a stringent performance management regime which includes Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) performance managers attending assessment centres; however, data for such visits is not retained.</p><p> </p><p>Provider performance is measured across a range of service level agreements setting out the department's expectations for service delivery. These include quality, performance delivery targets and customer experience.</p><p> </p><p>Independent Audit is one of the department’s tools to measure quality for performance management purposes. It is a self-contained team comprising of experienced health professional assessors who review a sample of assessment reports on a monthly basis to determine their quality. This helps ensure that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified, and provide sufficient information for the department to make a reasonable decision on entitlement to benefit. It is not an audit of the assessment provider as a whole.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 21/11/2022 17:08:36 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1542987

registered interest
date	16/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 80819 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, if he will publish the results of the last audit of Health Assessors; Capita and Independent Assessment Services.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	88966
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>We currently have no plans to publish the last audit results for Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS).</p><p>Referring to our previous answer to PQ80819, audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the health professional. It is not an audit of the assessment provider.</p><p>Provider performance is measured across a range of service level agreements (SLA) setting out the department's expectations for service delivery. These include quality, performance delivery targets and customer experience.</p><p>The monthly quality audit performance against the SLA target for Capita and IAS has already been published for January 2014 to April 2022 as part of the answer to <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-06-27/26035" target="_blank">PQ26035</a>.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 21/11/2022 17:04:25 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1540027

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 1 November to Question 72384, if she will publish her Department's audit procedures for assessment providers.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	80817
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment provider audit procedures can be found in sections 3.4 and 3.5 of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers" target="_blank">PIP assessment guide.</a></p><p> </p><p>Details relating to the audit procedures for Centre for Health and Disability Assessments can be found in schedule 2.1 section 40 of the <a href="https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/9bdd9fa5-0a4c-4484-a853-702b9683db80" target="_blank">Health and Disability Assessment Services contract.</a></p><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 14/11/2022 14:49:06 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1540028

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 1 November to Question 72384, if he will publish the training material which is shared between assessment providers.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	80818
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>Although assessment providers share training material between themselves to encourage best practice, we have no plans to publish the training material.</p><p> </p><p>The department introduced a Clinical Governance Quality Standards (CGQS) Framework to ensure that consistent quality standards are applied by all assessment providers. The CGQS Forum has the remit to facilitate embedding of the CGQS Framework across the department and its assessment providers. They share best practice including training and learning from leading national and international organisations, to continuously improve quality.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 14/11/2022 14:53:13 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1540031

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how often her Department visits health assessment centres in person to audit the performance of assessment providers.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	80819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not have a contractual obligation to perform regular visits to assessment centres, but does retain the right to visit any assessment centre, at any time, subject to reasonable notice. The department exercises this right, with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Work Capability Assessment (WCA) performance managers visiting assessment centres on an informal basis.</p><p> </p><p>The department has set standards for the quality of assessments for all its assessment providers and independent auditors. The department ensures a high standard is maintained by having an independent audit function that continually monitors performance and provides feedback to its providers. Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the health professional.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 14/11/2022 14:55:24 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1540032

registered interest
date	07/11/2022
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many health professionals employed by assessment providers have been dismissed as a result of poor performance in the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	80820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>Health Professionals (HPs) are subject to a rigorous recruitment process, followed by a comprehensive training programme. Given the high standards expected of HPs, it is anticipated that a number may not meet the required standard during the training and probation period.</p><p> </p><p>All HPs are subject to on-going monitoring of the standard of their assessments. If any issues are identified there is a process in place to support the HPs to improve the quality of their assessments. Where they fall below the required standards and do not improve, processes are in place to revoke their approval to undertake assessments.</p><p> </p><p>The number of HPs employed by assessment providers who have been dismissed as a result of poor performance in the last three years is shown in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Provider</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Capita (Personal Independence Payment - PIP)</strong></p></td><td><p>17</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>39</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Independent Assessment Services (IAS) (PIP)</strong></p></td><td><p>76</p></td><td><p>61</p></td><td><p>69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA)</strong></p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>9</p></td><td><p>9</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Please note</strong></p><p> </p><ul><li>Capita 2022 figures are for the period between 1 January 2022 and 4 November 2022;</li><li>IAS 2022 figures are for the period between 1 January 2022 and 4 November 2022;</li><li>CHDA 2022 figures are for the period between 1 January 2022 and 1 November 2022;</li><li>PIP figures include HPs that were dismissed during their training and probation period;</li><li>PIP figures do not include employees who resigned during the training process;</li><li>CHDA figures include HPs that were dismissed during their probation period;</li><li>CHDA figures do not include HPs that failed to successfully complete their training period, nor those who resigned during the training process.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 14/11/2022 14:43:39 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor