Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), what training or guidance is given to Personal Independence Payment assessors to ensure that fluctuating or invisible conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, are properly evaluated under the mobility descriptor including the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability, and a functional assessment is an important part of PIP.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring health professionals (HPs) have sufficient experience, skills, and training to undertake assessments. DWP has set out very clear rules on HP competency, both in guidance and in regulations.

All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. The principles of assessing claimants on their ability to carry out an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period are a core part of the HP training and guidance materials. Our assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that their HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP, and all HP core training and guidance material undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.

The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) provides guidance for assessment suppliers and HPs carrying out PIP assessments on applying the criteria set out in legislation. This includes sections on “Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices” and “Reliability”, which cover assessing the impacts of health conditions and impairments which can fluctuate over time in line with the reliability criteria.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the provisions contained in Part 4 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 relating to oral history and the memorialisation strategy.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Further to my Oral Statement in December 2024, the Government has been focussed on repealing and replacing the Legacy Act, ensuring that its mechanisms are human rights compliant and capable of commanding public confidence. We remain committed, however, to the oral history and other measures set out in Part 4 of the Act - which are widely supported in principle - and will set out further details in due course. In the meantime, progress has been made on two other, non-legislative, historical projects - digitisation and official history - the details of which were announced last month.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the independent public history project regarding the troubles in Northern Ireland that was first announced on 24 April 2024.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The project’s independent expert advisory panel continues to work under the published terms of reference. Further to the announcement made on 9 April 2025, the panel is currently accepting applications from independently-minded historians as part of an open and transparent competition, and has launched a website with further information about the project.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), whether they intend to review how the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period, are applied for Personal Independence Payment assessments in cases involving fluctuating conditions or neurological conditions, such as myasthenia gravis.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We currently have no plans to review this specific criterion. However, in the Pathways to Work Green Paper ,we announced plans to launch a review of the PIP assessment, which the Minister for Social Security and Disability shall lead.

To make sure we get this right, we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details about the scope of the review as plans progress.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 9 May (HL6877), how they monitor and evaluate whether PIP assessors are appropriately applying the reliability criteria in cases involving fluctuating or invisible conditions; and how many cases have been overturned at the mandatory reconsideration or tribunal stages due to a failure to consider these criteria correctly by assessors.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP has set standards for the quality of assessments for all health professionals (HPs) conducting Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments on behalf of the department. The department closely monitors all aspects of the process including how HPs apply the criteria set out in legislation.

PIP assessments are conducted by fully qualified, clinical professionals (Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Pharmacists) who have undergone a comprehensive training programme designed and approved by DWP. The quality of their advice is continually assured internally by the assessment suppliers and externally by the department's independent audit function.

Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided and the completion of the assessment report by the HP. The check is completed against a set of guidelines which ensures the criteria is applied appropriately and that a consistent approach is taken in all cases, including those involving fluctuating or invisible conditions. 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.

The department does not hold data on cases overturned at mandatory reconsideration or tribunal stages due to a failure by assessors to correctly consider reliability criteria in cases involving fluctuating or invisible conditions.

The recent Pathways to Work Green Paper has proposed that assessments should, in future, be recorded by default. It is hoped that this will give new opportunities to establish what has gone wrong when assessments are subsequently found to be incorrect, including when the fault has been a failure to assess correctly the impact of a fluctuating condition.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 May (HL6876), whether the forthcoming review of the PIP assessment will include a specific focus group or panel comprising of individuals with fluctuating and neurological conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, to incorporate feedback from their lived experience in the review.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 12 May, the Secretary of State announced in the House of Commons the start of the first phase of the review of the PIP assessment, which will be led by the Minister for Social Security and Disability. We will work with and listen closely to stakeholders to gather views on how best to approach the review before publishing the Terms of Reference.

The review will be guided by the principle that PIP is there to support disabled people with extra costs and to enable independent living, taking account of how the nature of disability and health conditions have changed since PIP was first introduced. The work to prepare the Terms of Reference will not include a specific focus group or panel comprising individuals with fluctuating and neurological conditions, but suggestions from such individuals about what the Terms of Reference should cover would be welcome.