Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors, published on 5 September 2023, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people who will no longer be deemed as having Limited Capacity for Work Related Activity under the planned reforms to the Work Capability Assessment who have a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

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. The consultation runs until the 30th October, and we will continue to refine these estimates as responses are considered following the end of the consultation period.

Estimates are not based on specific conditions because the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) considers the impact that a person’s disability or health condition has on their ability to work, not the condition itself.