Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Morello and Stephen Timms

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

Yes, I do. We want a more inclusive society where neurodivergent people, including those with dyspraxia, are supported to thrive. We are working across Government to support earlier intervention in schools, including through the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools programme, and the special educational needs and disabilities reforms coming forward in the new year, but we are also, beyond education, taking a wider view of how we ensure people with conditions such as dyspraxia are not held back.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

T2. Due to the rural nature of West Dorset, SEND children face difficulty accessing education. I have casework of a young girl with a stroke whose transport was withdrawn two days beforehand. Will the Minister work with other Departments to solve the problem of SEND children accessing education in rural areas?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Morello and Stephen Timms

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

15. If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the number of remote personal independence payment assessments on claimants in West Dorset constituency.

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

We will increase the number of face-to-face, rather than remote, PIP assessments, and will increase the number of health professionals in assessment centres in order to deliver that. I think the hon. Gentleman will agree, however, that it is important to keep telephone or video alternatives for those who need them.

[Edward Morello]

Many West Dorset constituents have written to me with deep anxiety about the assessment for personal independence payments, and especially the use of remote assessments. One constituent, despite previously being awarded enhanced PIP, has endured months of repeated phone assessments, which have triggered severe panic attacks and high blood pressure, and caused lasting psychological harm. The Secretary of State has given me a commitment to moving away from phone-based assessments, so what additional resources will be made available to support the roll-out of more face-to-face assessments in West Dorset?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

There was a switch to remote assessments in the pandemic, for obvious reasons, but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made the point repeatedly that, as was said in the “Pathways to Work” Green Paper, we want to move sharply back to face-to-face, while keeping alternatives for those who need them. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will have spoken to people for whom the prospect of going to an assessment centre provokes the kind of anxiety that his constituent experienced as a result of a telephone call. We are speaking to the assessment providers, and we have already increased the proportion of face-to-face assessments. That work will continue.