Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of Atos's performance in carrying out personal independence payment assessments.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Department's contracts with Atos Healthcare (and Capita) for the delivery of assessments for Personal Independence Payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department's expectations for service delivery. We are closely monitoring their progress and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards. We are working closely with our suppliers to speed up the process for claimants.
By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for an assessment for longer than 26 weeks and by the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) work capability assessments and (b) personal independence payment assessments has been undertaken by Atos in (i) the South West, (ii) Gloucestershire and (iii) Gloucester in the last 12 months; and how many assessments resulted in the claimant being found fit for work.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Information on the number of Personal Independent Payment assessments completed by provider is not available.
The information we can provide for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) work capability assessments is shown in the table below.
Total number of ESA Work Capability Assessments and, of these, the number found Fit for Work in the South West and Gloucestershire: 1 October 2012 - 30 September 2013
Area | Total (where functional assessment has been completed) | Of these: Fit for Work | ||||
ESA new claims - Initial assessments | ESA claims - Repeat assessments | Incapacity Benefit re-assessments | ESA new claims - Initial assessments | ESA claims - Repeat assessments | Incapacity Benefit re-assessments | |
South West Region | 14,400 | 2,000 | 26,800 | 3,900 | 100 | 3,400 |
Gloucestershire | 1,700 | 200 | 2,300 | 600 | - | 300 |
Source: Data in the tables above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. “-“denotes nil or under 50.
2. Figures for Gloucestershire County are derived by summing the following Local Authorities: Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Stroud and Tewkesbury.
3. This data is not available by parliamentary constituency.
4. Data is for the 12 months: 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013, which is the latest data available.
5. The initial assessment outcomes relate to the claimant’s first assessment before appeal and may include cases that will have been revised following reconsideration.
6. The outcome recorded is the final DWP Decision Maker’s decision or the recommendation made by the Atos Healthcare Professional where the Decision Maker’s decision is not yet available.
7. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. It relates to new and repeat ESA claims and Incapacity Benefits Reassessments. The reassessment of existing incapacity benefits claimants was rolled out nationally from April 2011.
In October 2008, ESA replaced Incapacity Benefit for new claims. The reassessment of existing Incapacity Benefit claimants to see if they are eligible for ESA was rolled out nationally from April 2011 and is ongoing.