Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2017 to Question 118979, what the average length of time spent with clients is by (a) doctors and (b) nurses during the process of a work capability assessment.

This information is not available. The Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) only record the total time taken to undertake a Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This includes activities undertaken while the claimant is not present, for example Healthcare Professionals writing the assessment report to be submitted to DWP.

Based on figures between September 2017 and November 2017, the average time to complete a full WCA by a doctor within CHDA Assessment Centres was 80 minutes. This includes undertaking complex-neurological WCA cases which take longer than average assessments. Over the same period, the average time to complete a full WCA by a nurse was 73 minutes. Nurses do not currently undertake complex-neurological WCA cases.