Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many medically qualified doctors are Personal Independence Payment assessors.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
There is no requirement for Personal Independence Payment assessments to be undertaken specifically by doctors. The assessment is not a medical assessment requiring the assessor to diagnose a condition or its severity and recommend treatment options. The focus is on ensuring that the Health Professionals are experts in disability analysis, considering the effects of health conditions and impairments on an individual's daily life.
Capita employ one medically qualified doctor as a Personal Independence Payment assessor.
Independent Assessment Services do not currently employ any doctors as Personal Independent Payment assessors.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for Work and Pensions has a target to uphold 80 per cent of benefit decisions that are subject to Mandatory Reconsideration.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
There has never been a mandatory reconsideration target for upholding original decisions.
The 80 per cent figure was an internal measurement only used to indicate areas where the quality of initial decisions may not be meeting our expected high standards, therefore enabling us to investigate and address if required.
Given the confusion the 80 per cent figure has caused, we no longer use this internal measure. We instead assure quality by focussing more on the individual claimant journey, looking at what we could have done better and identifying any training needs and process improvements that can be made throughout this journey.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that no benefit claimants are left destitute over Christmas and the New Year.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Department will advance the timing of payments for people affected by bank holidays as follows:
When your payment is due | When you’ll be paid |
Between Friday 22 December 2017 and Tuesday 26 December 2017 | Friday 22 December 2017 |
Wednesday 27 December 2017 | Wednesday 27 December 2017 |
Thursday 28 December 2017 | Thursday 28 December 2017 |
Between Friday 29 December 2017 and Monday 1 January 2018 | Friday 29 December 2017 |
This information is available at https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-youre-paid
The Christmas payment dates for all other benefits are provided below.
|
This information is available at https://www.gov.uk/how-to-have-your-benefits-paid
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Atos and Capita deploy the same healthcare professionals for the non-medical Personal Independence Payment assessment and the medical assessment for Employment and Support Allowance, the Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments delivers Work Capability Assessments for Employment and Support Allowance. Personal Independence Payment assessments are delivered by Independent Assessment Services (operated by Atos) and Capita.
Each company employs their own health professionals.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings they have held with the Chief Executives of Atos and Capita about Personal Independence Payment assessments since the General Election.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Her Majesty’s Government has had no meetings with the Chief Executives of either Independent Assessment Services (Atos) or Capita since the last General Election.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the criteria for assessing Personal Independence Payments to take into account claimants with mental health issues.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Personal Independence Payments (PIP) assessment criteria have been designed to take account of the impact of all impairments on individuals’ ability including those with mental health issues. The inclusion of such activities as 'Making budgeting decisions' and 'Engaging with other people face-to-face' ensures that consideration is given to the impact of such impairments on people's daily living needs.
Furthermore, by assessing claimants' ability to plan and follow journeys, the Mobility component also reflects the impact of impairment on an individual's ability to get around, and ensures the assessment takes account of mental, intellectual and cognitive impairments.
We believe the current PIP assessment criteria are the best way of identifying those whose mental health is most limited and have no plans to change these.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
Her Majesty's Government whether there is enough flexibility in the Personal Independence Payments criteria to allow for claimants with unusual conditions.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We are committed to ensuring that the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment works effectively for individuals with any health conditions or disability. This is achieved by measuring the impact on an individual’s ability to undertake a range of activities.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Personal Independent Payment assessors receive appropriate training to allow them to take a holistic approach to a claimant's assessment.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
All Health Professionals (HPs) working on the delivery of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments must be either an occupational therapist, level 1 nurse, physiotherapist, paramedic or doctor. They must also be fully registered and have at least two years’ post full-registration experience. In addition to their profession, the Department recognises the importance of ensuring that individuals also have sufficient experience, skills and training to carry out their duties and PIP providers are required to ensure that the HPs carrying out assessments have knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments.
All new assessors complete one month of intensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions affect an individual’s ability to perform day-to-day activities. This is followed by on-going professional training and support which continues for the duration of their employment in the role.
Final approval to work as a health assessor must be conferred by the Department for Work and Pension’s Chief Medical Adviser on behalf of the Secretary of State.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations they conducted in response to the decision of the UK Upper Tribunal on 28 November 2016 in MH v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP), prior to the introduction of the relevant amending regulations laid before Parliament in February 2017.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Department for Work and Pensions continues to have regular discussions with disability organisations on a range of issues related to Personal Independence Payment. As part of this on-going engagement and consultation Ministers have been in contact with a number of stakeholders, including disability charities, to discuss and explain the changes that we have introduced.
Prior to its introduction, the PIP assessment criteria were developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the European Disability Strategy 2010–2020 and subsequent strategies will be incorporated into UK law after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Henley
The UK has long been a leader in disability rights, and this Government fully intends to continue ensuring that this is the case. We continue to promote good practice and implement improvements for disabled people. Additionally, we continue to be signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a convention binding in international law.