Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken to process new claims for (a) employment support allowance and (b) personal independent payment has been since the introduction of those payments.

Official statistics for Employment and Support Allowance processing times are not readily available and to provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.

Statistics on the time taken to process Personal Independence Payment cases are intended for future publication. The Department's analysts are currently considering what information will be included in the release. The release will be pre-announced in line with UK Statistics Authority protocols.