Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on consultancy costs examining possible proposals for the future of the Access to Work scheme.

Following an internal review of Access to Work, a number of changes and customer service improvements were announced in March 2015. In support of our next stage of continuous improvement of Access to Work, we have commissioned independent business analysts to provide expert advice on how Access to Work can best deliver the Government’s ambition to increase numbers supported by the scheme by 65% over the course of the Parliament, and beyond.

This work is still on-going and details of the contract can be found at https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e06d7b31-1135-42c9-a81b-854984be1137