Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money from the public purse has been paid to private firms to carry out health assessments for her Department in each year for which information is available.

These figures cover the direct cost of delivering work capability assessments, the medical assessments undertaken for other benefits, costs relating to written and verbal medical advice, fixed overheads, administrative costs, investment in new technology and other service improvement expenditure incurred by the Department.