Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the appropriateness of Work Capability Assessments for people with multiple sclerosis; and if he will make a statement.

The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was been designed to take full account of how fluctuating conditions such as multiple sclerosis, affect a claimant’s ability to work. The WCA assesses individuals against a set of functional descriptors not specific conditions, as two people with the same condition can be affected in different ways and gives people the opportunity to explain how their condition varies over time.

The Green Paper published on the 31 October seeks to make a positive change to how we help people with health conditions and disabilities to realise their potential and includes reforms to the WCA.