Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, what progress her Department has made in developing a new user-centred service for personal independence payment; what steps it plans to take to test that new service; and when he expects that new service to be ready for roll out to new claimants.

The Health Transformation Programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service and transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing the option to apply online.  The programme is developing the new digital PIP service carefully and incrementally, designing it around the needs of claimants.

We have begun offering the new online apply service to a small number of claimants, initially, as we introduce this service gradually and carefully. We have already introduced a digital version of the PIP2 health questionnaire, which is now offered to the majority of those making a claim.

The programme is planning to fully evaluate the new services it is developing, using a range of methods. Our approach to evaluating the services will change and evolve as they are developed.

Overall, the programme is taking a long-term, phased approach, that will move us away from the current ways we are operating, gradually and carefully. The programme is currently focussed on building the foundations and creating the environment to enable us to begin to transform these services for the future.