Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Personal Independence Payment assessors have appropriate training to assess complex and less widely understood medical conditions.

Personal Independence Payment assessments are not medical consultations and do not require health professionals (HPs) to diagnose conditions or recommend treatment. Instead, they are functional assessments designed to evaluate how an individual’s health conditions or impairments affect their ability to carry out daily living and mobility activities.

All HPs undertaking assessments on behalf of the department must be registered practitioners; they receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. Assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP.

HPs have access to a wide range of Core Training and Guidance Material (CTGM), which offers detailed and quality assured clinical and functional information on a range of conditions. There are thousands of unique clinical conditions, most of which have a range of functional effects where disability can vary from nil to profound. It would be impossible to have specific training on all conditions. There are over 23,000 rare diseases alone listed in the Orphanet directory.

As of 9 September 2024, DWP assumed responsibility for the CTGM used within the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS); this information is provided by DWP to the HAAS assessment suppliers. Following the transfer of responsibilities to DWP, all training and guidance materials are currently undergoing a comprehensive review and update. A newly established team is leading this work, ensuring that all materials are aligned with national best practice standards. To support this, independent clinical experts are being engaged to provide external quality assurance, helping to ensure the accuracy, relevance, and consistency of the content.