Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Capita on processing medical assessment reports for personal independence payments.

The Department's contract with Capita for the delivery of assessments for Personal Independence Payment includes a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department's expectations for service delivery. We are closely monitoring their progress against these and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards.

We are aware that, in many cases, it is taking longer than we would like for claimants to have their assessments with Capita. We are working closely with our supplier to speed up the process for claimants.