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1077704

registered interest
date	26/02/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to what extent auditors of health assessment reports on claimants of personal independence payment are independent from her Department.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	226157
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Auditors of health assessment reports on claimants of Personal Independence Payment are not independent of DWP; they are independent of the Assessment Providers.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP independent audit function, which was rolled out across the contracts in 2016, is used to judge how the providers are performing against set quality targets to ensure that the advice provided to the Department’s decision makers is of suitable quality, fully explained and justified.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 04/03/2019 16:51:45 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1055034

registered interest
date	05/02/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment: 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 the Answer of 21 January 2019 to Question 208914 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations, what her Department’s definition is of prescriptive.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	217023
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2019 answer text <p>The word ‘prescriptive’ is not defined in the Personal Independence Payment audit criteria.</p><p>Where DWP considers that assessment reports are not fit for purpose it may return them to Assessment Providers for rework, which will be carried out at their expense.</p><p>The criteria are that reports will be:</p><ul><li>fair and impartial;</li><li>legible and concise;</li><li>in accordance with relevant legislation;</li><li>comprehensive, clearly explaining the medical issues raised, fully clarifying any contradictions in evidence;</li><li>in plain English and free of medical jargon and unexplained medical abbreviations;</li><li>presented clearly; and</li><li>complete.</li></ul><p>The rework action to be taken by Assessment Providers will vary on a case-by-case basis. Wherever possible, cases should be discussed with the original Health Professional or referred back to them for further action to be taken.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 12/02/2019 11:07:09 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton previous answer version 100775 answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1045619

registered interest
date	21/01/2019
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	Employment and Support Allowance: Chronic Illnesses
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 Employment Support Allowance (ESA), how many and what proportion of people with the most severe health conditions and disabilities with lifetime award of ESA have been placed in the ESA Support Group or Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity category and are exempt from repeat assessments; what steps his Department has taken to ensure individuals with lifelong illnesses will not be required to be reassessed; and for what reasons decision-makers are allocating timeframes for the award of ESA for applicants whose ESA 50 forms have not been reviewed.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	210604
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2019 answer text <p>In response to (a)(i), information on the number of claimants who have met the severe conditions criteria for Employment and Support Allowance is published and can be found in tables 5a and 5b in the file which can be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-december-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-december-2018</a></p><p> </p><p>With regard to (a)(ii), the information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>In response to (b), the Honourable lady might be interested to know that we have worked with healthcare professionals and other stakeholders to develop a set of criteria to switch off re-assessments for people with the most severe health conditions or disabilities (unless there is a change of circumstances). From 29 September 2017 those placed in ESA’s Support Group and the UC equivalent who have the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function would always mean that they would have Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity, and be unlikely ever to be able to move into work, will no longer be routinely reassessed.</p><p> </p><p>With regards to question (c) to clarify, all ESA50 questionnaires completed and returned by claimants are reviewed by a Healthcare Professional. Their advice to the decision maker including advice on the review period will be based on all of the evidence they have considered.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 24/01/2019 13:46:27 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1043714

registered interest
date	18/01/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's target timetable is for applicants of personal independence payments to be notified of the decision on their application; and what (a) proportion and (b) number of applications met that target in each year for which information is available.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	210050
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not have targets for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) applications.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 23/01/2019 16:16:53 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1041702

registered interest
date	15/01/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether auditors from her Department have the authority to instruct health professionals to make mandatory (a) specific and (b) general amendments to Independent Assessment Service reports.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	208914
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2019 answer text <p>The quality assurance audit process following consultation is in place to ensure that the report the Health Professional provides to the Department is of a high standard. This is a very important part of the process to check the information provided is fully explained and justified.</p><p>Where assessments have been graded as either ‘acceptable - report amendment required’ or ‘unacceptable’ the reports are returned to the Assessment Provider for remedial activity. Where possible, this activity should be taken by the Health Professional who carried out the original assessment. DWP is not prescriptive on how changes should be made. The Assessment Provider is responsible for ensuring the returned report is then fit for purpose prior to resubmitting it to DWP.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 21/01/2019 13:27:16 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1041705

registered interest
date	15/01/2019
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	Independent Assessment Services: Audit
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 from Independent Assessment Services have been (a) dismissed and (b) referred for further training as a result of her Department's audits of health professionals' reports.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	208915
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2019 answer text <p>Independent Assessment Service are committed to providing the highest quality of service to all claimants when conducting a functional PIP assessment and in the preparation of claimant reports for consideration by the DWP.</p><p> </p><p>The figures requested is not available as Health Professionals are not dismissed based on the audit of a single assessment report. Audit is one of a number of tools used to monitor the quality of Health Professionals work and to inform ongoing support and performance management. All Health Professionals who have quality issues identified by audit will receive feedback and additional training as a result. Health Professionals who require full retraining to ensure they meet the required quality standards will receive this. Where Health Professionals do not meet the quality requirements on a regular basis, performance management will be taken, which can lead to dismissal.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 21/01/2019 13:39:42 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

1006040

registered interest
date	13/11/2018
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 assessments were carried out on claimants of (a) personal independence payments and (b) employment support allowance in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	190915
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2018 answer text <p>The number of health assessments that were carried out for Personal Independence Payments claimants in each of the last five years are shown in the table below. The increase in PIP assessments reflects the growth in new claims following the introduction of PIP in 2013 and the of reassessment of DLA to more areas.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>Jun 2013 - March 2014</p></td><td><p>April 2014 - March 2015</p></td><td><p>April 2015 - March 2016</p></td><td><p>April 2016 - March 2017</p></td><td><p>April 2017 - March 2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>PIP Health assessment reports received</p></td><td><p>81,000</p></td><td><p>555,000</p></td><td><p>708,000</p></td><td><p>1,003,000</p></td><td><p>1,021,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: chargeable outputs trend summary report</p><p>(Figures rounded to nearest 1k)</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The number of health assessments that were carried out for Employment Support Allowance claimants in each of the last five years are shown in the table below.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>April 2013 - March 2014</p></td><td><p>April 2014 - March 2015</p></td><td><p>April 2015 - March 2016</p></td><td><p>April 2016 - March 2017</p></td><td><p>April 2017 - March 2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>ESA Health assessment reports received</p></td><td><p>638,000</p></td><td><p>685,000</p></td><td><p>742,000</p></td><td><p>913,000</p></td><td><p>913,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: Monthly Work Capability Summary MI report</p><p>(Figures rounded to nearest 1k)</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 19/11/2018 17:08:06 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

994184

registered interest
date	24/10/2018
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 the Answer of 11 October 2018 to Question 176388 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, how many of those audits resulted in amendments to health assessment reports (a) in total and (b) where a person's care needs for a descriptor were reduced for (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) personal independence payment in each year for which information is available.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	183441
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not hold the information requested.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, accurate assessments and monitor assessment quality through independent audit. DWP Decision Makers can return reports to Assessment Providers for rework/additional advice if they feel that the information within a report does not fully justify the recommendation given. A range of measures, including provider improvement plans, address performance falling below expected standards.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 29/10/2018 16:15:38 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

992719

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
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 internal audits of claimant health assessments were carried out by the organisations responsible for (a) work capability and (b) personal independence payment assessments in each year for which information is available.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	182246
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2018 answer text <p>Internal audit, as carried out by the suppliers, is one element of the supplier quality management regime, which is subject to ongoing review. Information on the internal audit of our Assessment Providers is not a contractual MI requirement and the collective information you have requested is not available.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 25/10/2018 14:11:23 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows

992846

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
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 the Answer of 18 October 2018 to Question 178516 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, if her Department will (a) review its policy to send only the latest copy of a person's assessment report and (b) provide (i) all copies of those reports and (ii) explanations of any amendments to ensure that the process is transparent.
tabling member constituency	Motherwell and Wishaw
tabling member printed	Marion Fellows
uin	182305
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2018 answer text <p>It is Department for Work and Pensions policy to provide only the latest copy of the assessment report to claimants upon request, as this supersedes any previous report and is the report used by the Case Manager to make the decision.</p> answering member constituency Truro and Falmouth answering member printed Sarah Newton question first answered 25/10/2018 14:39:01 answering member 4071 label Biography information for Sarah Newton
tabling member	4440 label Biography information for Marion Fellows