Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the letter dated 15 July 2014 from the then Minister of State for Disabled People to the hon. Member for Stockton North, ref. POS(5) 10214/92, if the Minister of State for Disabled People will uphold his predecessor's personal commitment to ensuring that personal independence payment claims for people who are terminally ill will be assessed within seven days where possible; and what the timeframe is for achieving this target.

We are already starting to see waiting times for special rules claims for terminally ill people reduce towards our expected level with indications that processing times are currently down to around 10 days. We will continue to identify further opportunities to streamline the process.