Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cumulative cost to date of the personal independence payments assessment programme on the NHS budget.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP), together with Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, are universal benefits that help with the extra costs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. Spending on these benefits increased by over £3 billion over the course of the last parliament and we expect to be spending nearly £23 billion in 2017/18. We would expect individuals to be accessing the relevant support services, regardless of benefit receipt and do not expect the introduction of PIP to impact health services.