Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions have been held with HM Treasury about changes in costs of administering the personal independence payment assessment process; what the outcomes of those discussions have been; and how they affect the current Spending Review benefits savings target and the proposed cap on benefit expenditure.

The costs of administering the PIP assessment process were published in the NAO report in February 2014 and quote the current PIP business case (2013-2014)

http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Personal-independence-payment-early-progress.pdf

Forecast expenditure on PIP will be updated at Autumn Statement. The most recent forecasts were published by the Office for Budget Responsibility following Budget 2014.

http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/37839-OBR-Cm-8820-accessible-web-v2.pdf

The Department meets regularly with HM Treasury to discuss progress on all programmes.