Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to end informal observations under Personal Independence Payment for people living with (a) MS and (b) other fluctuating conditions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Informal observations during an assessment for claims to Personal Independence Payment can be a useful tool in assessing functional capability. They can reveal abilities and limitations not mentioned in the claimant questionnaire, supporting evidence or during the history-taking for the consultation. They may also show discrepancies between the reported need and the actual needs of the claimant.
Informal observations included in a health professional’s assessment report to DWP are considered alongside all other available evidence including evidence from professionals who may have observed the claimant more regularly to determine entitlement. As informal observations are a useful addition to an assessment, we have no intention to end their use, including for those people with MS or other fluctuating conditions.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, if he will publish equality impact assessments made in connection with the proposals announced in that speech.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State has complied with his duties under the Equality Act 2010 in respect of the policies announced within the PM's speech. We will continue to consider equalities impacts and take any decisions about publication as policies develop.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an equalities impact assessment of the policies announced in the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to meeting its obligations under the Equality Act 2010, and has considered equality impacts in the policies announced in the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024. This will be kept under regular review as each policy develops.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to the Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors consultation, what estimate he has made of the proportion of consultation responses that were in favour of any of the proposals.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We carefully considered the Work Capability Assessment consultation responses and feedback from our public events and engagement. We received over 1,300 written responses, including from disabled people and people with health conditions, as well as the organisations that represent and support them.
We do not have an estimate of the proportion that were in favour of any of the proposals.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the scorecard set out in the Autumn Statement document for the reform of the Work Capability Assessment descriptors takes into account the planned implementation of the Health and Disability White Paper for new claimants from 2026-27.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The impact of the planned reforms set out in the Health and Disability White Paper has not yet been scored by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Therefore, the impact of the changes to the Work Capability Assessment announced at Autumn Budget do not include the impact of the White Paper reforms.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals set out in the Government Response to the Work Capability Assessment: Activities and Descriptors Consultation, published on 22 November 2023, on trends in the level of disabled people in poverty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the impact of the changes to Work Capability Assessments on levels of poverty for disabled people or people with or health conditions. The overall financial impacts of these measures on individuals have been considered in taking decisions on the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), alongside consideration of the responses to the consultation.
The Office for Budget Responsibility have published their assessment of the numbers that they expect to be affected by the changes and HMT have also published the impacts in their policy costing note that accompanies the Autumn Statement. We aim to publish an Impact Assessment in due course.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether income-related ESA claimants who are re-assessed upon moving to Universal Credit through Managed Migration after 2025 will be subject to the existing or new Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no automatic referral for reassessment for customers at the point that they move from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC). If a customer has an existing ESA Work Capability Assessment decision, they will not be required to have another assessment in order to get the health-related additions of Universal Credit, unless their health condition has changed.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation entitled Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors, published on 5 September 2023, if he will make an estimate of the number of claimants that would no longer be found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity in (a) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom if each of the proposals in that consultation were implemented.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
DWP’s consultation on changes to the Work Capability Assessment closed on Monday 30 October. Over 1300 individuals and organisations submitted a response and 14 public consultation events were held, both face-to-face across Great Britain, and virtually. The consultation responses are now being considered and decisions will be taken in due course.
The department has developed estimates of the impacts of these proposals on disabled people. We are continuing to refine these estimates as responses to the consultation are considered. This analysis is not available at a subnational level.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposals in the Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors consultation on the number of disabled people living in poverty.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The consultation closed on Monday 30 October and covered a range of options on the Work Capability Assessment. We received over 1,300 responses to the consultation and these are now being considered.
The department has developed estimates of the number of claimants impacted across the range of options being considered in the Work Capability Assessment activities and descriptors consultation.
Assessing poverty impacts would involve projecting forward every household’s income and individual circumstances, which is not possible to do with confidence.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability employment advisors there are in the UK; and how many of those advisors there are per job centre.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are currently over 770 Disability Employment Advisers in the UK. Disability Employment Adviser resource is allocated at district level and covers every Jobcentre in England, Scotland and Wales. We are ensuring that every Work Coach in every Jobcentre continues to have access to a Disability Employment Adviser.