Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Consent Order agreed by his Department on 13 July 2021 following its decision not to contest the legal challenge brought against it by “K” and its subsequent revisions to the Best Practice Memorandum used by staff calling disabled people appealing to the independent Tribunal, how many calls have been made to appellants since that date, by (a) Employment Support Allowance, (b) Personal Independence Payment and (c) another Social Security benefit.

Information about the number of calls made prior to an appeal being lapsed is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Appeals Manager of the Disputes Resolution Service (DRS) regularly requests assurance from each DRS site about its compliance with the Best Practice Memorandum. To date, no issues have been identified, therefore initiating a bespoke sampling exercise is not considered necessary at this time.