Personal Independence Payment Debate
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Baroness Eaton
Main Page: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Eaton's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
Personal Independence Payment
Baroness Eaton Excerpts(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Freud
The build-up of PIP was done in a controlled and phased way, and that was acknowledged by the NAO. ATOS won that contract in fair, open competition and we have no plans to reopen that process.
Baroness Eaton (Con)
My Lords, can the Minister tell us what assessment he has made of the level of support by Her Majesty’s Government to disabled people?
Lord Freud
My Lords, the Government remain committed to maintaining support for disabled people. We spend roughly £50 billion a year, every year, and that is held in real terms. That is a fifth higher than the EU average. The overall spend on incapacity benefits has remained roughly flat in real terms over the life of this Government, and indeed the benefits about which we are talking—PIP, DLA—have actually been going up in real terms over the past four years.