Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the merits of replicating the policy of the Scottish Government to require full medical records to be available for disability benefit assessments.

It is a matter for the Scottish Government how they assess entitlement for devolved benefits.

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) are based on the impact of a person’s disability or health condition, not on the condition itself and are not medical assessments. Therefore, medical evidence forms only part of the picture needed to assess someone’s functional needs or ability.

We ask people to send in evidence they already have to support their claim. Our Assessment Providers and Case Managers will ask GPs, hospitals and other healthcare or social care professionals for further evidence where they think that would be helpful.

To offer a more joined-up service to disabled people, the DWP Health Transformation Programme will be integrating the services that deliver PIP and WCA. Our ambition is to make the assessment process simpler, more transparent and more user-friendly.