Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Institute for Public Policy Research’s findings, published on 24 September, that people from BAME backgrounds are (1) twice as likely as the wider population to expect to face financial difficulty in the next quarter, and (2) more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs or access to paid work during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they are taking to address this discrepancy.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
This Government is committed to levelling up opportunities for everyone, we have already taken action to set up the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which will review inequality across the UK. The Commission will set out a new, positive agenda for change, balancing the needs of individuals, communities and society, maximising opportunities and ensuring fairness for all. This is in addition to the work we are taking forward on the findings of the Public Health England review into disparities in the risks and outcomes of COVID-19, published on 2 June.
Throughout these unprecedented times the Government has provided a crucial safety net to record levels of claimants, ensuring all our customers receive the support they need, when they need it. We know some people might require additional help to get back into work so we have launched our Plan for Jobs, including the Kickstart scheme, the expanded youth offer, the Job Entry Targeted Support and the Sector-based Work Academy Programmes to offer new support to those who lose their job as a result of COVID-19, investing £90 million towards activities that address disparities in youth unemployment – with a focus on the data from the Government’s Race Disparity Audit - and more. The Government is working to ensure that ethnic minority customers have the opportunity to benefit from this extensive package.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 19 July (HL9263), on what evidence they determined that gender is relevant to the needs arising from long-term health conditions or disabilities while ethnicity is not; and whether they will place a copy of that evidence in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Whilst designing Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the Department considered the relevance of what data should be collected and recorded to support the good management of a PIP claim. PIP is based on needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability so gender is not a factor in the decision making process in PIP.
However, the collection of data on gender supports the good management of PIP claims as it supports our communications with claimants.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 19 July (HL9263), whether they will publish the outcome of their consideration of how to give assurance that the assessment process for Personal Independent Payments does not disproportionately affect BAME communities.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We are currently considering the approach we will take to this work and will decide on the most suitable method of disseminating the outcomes as part of that activity.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
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.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
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.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 4 July (HL9015), what assessment, if any, they have made of (1) the relevance of ethnicity in ensuring good management of claims for Personal Independence Payments; and (2) on what basis gender is considered relevant for the collection of data and good management of claims, while ethnicity is not.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Whilst designing Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the Department considered the relevance of what data should be collected and recorded to support the good management of a PIP claim. PIP is based on needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability so ethnicity is not a factor in the decision making process in PIP. However, DWP does collect data on ethnicity from other sources, such as the Family Resources Survey, and are considering how we can better use this information, and review other activities, to give assurance that the assessment process does not disproportionately impact on BAME communities
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the recent sickle cell and thalassaemia APPG Report How did you contract that?, of the suitability of the Personal Independence Payment Form 2 for the assessment of persons living with thalassaemia and sickle cell disease.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims are not condition based but are assessed on how a claimant’s long-term disability or health condition affects their day-to-day life and on the majority of days over the period of a year. The PIP2 questionnaire, “How your disability affects you”, is the first step in gathering detailed information about the needs arising from an individual’s health condition or disability. The form has been designed to allow claimants to tell us, in their own words, how their health condition or disability impacts them on a day-to-day basis. The questionnaire has a mixture of tick boxes and free text boxes allowing claimants to add as much or as little detail as they wish. We also ask claimants to send in any additional information or evidence to support their claim. Although the PIP2 is a standard template, we can assure you that it has been carefully designed to capture information on people’s needs regardless of their health condition or disability.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which Department for Work and Pensions disability assessors are qualified to make judgements in relation to people living with thalassaemia and sickle cell disease.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
All Healthcare Professionals carrying out assessments are medically qualified and highly-trained practitioners in their own field. They are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment.
The assessment is not a medical assessment requiring the Healthcare Professional to diagnose a condition and recommend treatment options. The focus is on ensuring Healthcare Professionals are experts in disability analysis with knowledge of the likely functional effects of a wide range of health conditions.
While preparing to undertake an assessment, Healthcare Professionals can access a wide range of clinical resources to research any medical conditions that they are unfamiliar with. In addition, they read in detail any further evidence that has been supplied by the claimant’s GP or specialist clinical team.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to collect data on race alongside disability, gender and age as part of their monitoring of the Personal Independent Payments caseload.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Department for Work and Pensions only collects data which determines benefit entitlement or which contributes to the good management of a claim, we therefore do not ask for those details. We have no plans to change these arrangements.