Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the criteria is by which his Department determined the successful bidders for management of the administration of the personal independence payments contracts.

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Providers were selected following a fair and open competition.

Tenders were assessed against a detailed set of criteria which covered key aspects of PIP service delivery. A wide range of areas were assessed but particular weighting was given to bidders' management of the claimant journey, staff recruitment, delivering assessments by Health Professionals, performance management, estates and overall implementation.

Providers were selected on the basis of the most economic advantageous tender which overall assessed a combination of qualitative, risk and financial factors to determine the preferred supplier for each contract to be awarded.