Asked by: Sally Jameson (Labour (Co-op) - Doncaster Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with (a) disabled people and (b) disabled people's organisations to help improve the experience of disabled people within the benefits system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.
The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising health and disability benefit services to improve user experience and increase trust in these services.
HTP service design has been informed by user research conducted with customers, operational staff and health care professionals, including one-to-one sessions with customers at each stage of their claim. The Department has also engaged with a significant number of stakeholder organisations, establishing positive relationships with representative groups by seeking their expertise before beginning to develop and test new processes.
This collaborative approach will help the department to tailor services to customer needs.