Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's prior information notice of 5 April on Additional Healthcare Capacity, reference 2023/S 000-009884, fow what reason additional capacity is required.

This contract replaces an existing contract, which is coming to an end.

The Health Transformation Programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service through our Health Transformation Area. This is a controlled safe environment where we can develop the service at small scale, exploring ideas from claimants, stakeholders and DWP staff. The healthcare professionals who deliver WCA and PIP assessments within the Health Transformation Area, are directly employed by the DWP.

The new contract provides additional healthcare professionals, providing us with the flexibility to supplement the capacity as required to ensure we can continue to provide a stable service to meet the needs of claimants and to continue to test and build the new service.