Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure PIP claims are assessed within the Department's target wait times.

We have interpreted the questions as relating specifically to the assessment stage of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims.

The department does not set or publish target wait times for the completion of PIP assessments. We therefore do not hold figures on how many, or what proportion, of assessments were completed outside such target times.

However, the department does publish information on average assessment clearance times as part of its official PIP statistical releases, which can be found here.

The department continues to take steps to improve the timeliness of PIP assessments, including increasing operational capacity and recruiting additional health professionals to help manage current demand levels.