Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the amount of time GP practices' staff spend compiling correct evidence for the proper assessment of their patients' personal independence payment claims due to inaccuracies in Atos reports; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has not made any assessment of the amount of time GP practice staff spend compiling evidence for patients making claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). GPs are only required to provide clinical information and not to make an assessment of their patient’s PIP claim as this is the role of the Department’s Case Manager.

If a healthcare professional working on behalf of the Department requires clinical information from a GP they will request it directly from the GP and the GP is able to claim a fee. If a claimant requests a reconsideration of their claim, the Case Manager may ask the claimant if they have any additional evidence, which may include medical evidence to support their claim. A claimant may choose to ask their GP for evidence at this stage or at an appeal stage if they feel it supports their claim.

In the Improving Lives Green Paper, we are currently consulting on the sharing of data between the two assessments for Employment Support Allowance/ Universal Credit and PIP. We are also exploring how the assessment process could use data already gathered by the NHS or local authority to ensure people do not have to provide the same information.