Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last issued any guidance to Department for Work and Pensions disability assessors on the functional effects of thalassaemia and sickle cell disease on claimants; and whether they have any plans to address this issue specifically in the training programme undertaken by assessors.

Guidance on Sickle Cell Disease, including the functional effects, was developed and first issued to Centre for Health and Disability Assessments Healthcare Professionals in June 2014. It is quality assured by external specialist practitioners and regularly updated. It was most recently reissued on 18 December 2017.

The Personal Independence Payment assessment is not a medical assessment and there is no requirement for the Disability Assessor to diagnose a condition and recommend treatment options. We do not issue guidance on specific clinical conditions to Capita and Independent Assessment Services. Their Disability Assessors are trained to be experts in disability analysis and have knowledge of the functional effects of a wide range of health conditions. Each Provider develops their own guidance as part of their ongoing training

All Healthcare Professionals have access to a range of resources as well as experienced clinicians to support them in assessing claimants with conditions that they may not be familiar with.

We work extensively with our Assessment Providers to make improvements to guidance and training to ensure that all claimants receive objective, accurate and high quality assessments and have agreed to work directly with the Sickle Cell Society and Thalassemia Society to review our current materials and approach.

Assessment Providers continue to engage with medical experts, charities and relevant stakeholders to strengthen, review and update their training programmes.