Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 13 February (HL13342), what steps they are taking to reduce the waiting time for Personal Independence Payment appeals from the date on which an appeal is lodged to the final outcome.

The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members have already been appointed and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been recruited. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and providing a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Information on the new digital service can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal