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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment assessments were face to face in each month for which information is available.

Mike Penning

The Department has not set Personal Independence Payment assessment providers targets for the proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and the average length of time for each assessment.

Personal Independence Payment started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the contract for the introduction of personal independence payment included targets for the (a) proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and (b) average length of time for each assessment.

Mike Penning

The Department has not set Personal Independence Payment assessment providers targets for the proportion of assessments to be conducted face to face and the average length of time for each assessment.

Personal Independence Payment started from April 2013 and although limited data has started to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured meaningful figures for publication. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administration costs are, per claimant, of (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments.

Mike Penning

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are different benefits with different delivery models. PIP includes a more objective assessment process, with a face-to-face consultation for most people. That is different to DLA, which is a self-assessed paper based process that purely looks at the type of health condition or impairment they have. It was always expected that PIP would produce an overall increased administration cost compared to DLA for these reasons. The current administration cost for DLA per claimant is £56.06. A comparable administration cost is currently unavailable for PIP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has held back from payments to Capita because of poor performance on personal independence payment assessments.

Mike Penning

The Department has applied performance measures against both of the Personal Independence Payment Assessment Providers and has recovered Service Credits (Financial remedies) in accordance with the contract.

Specific application of service credits for Capita is commercially sensitive information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the savings to the public purse from the personal independence payment programme; and what assessment he has made of the long-term risks to that programme.

Mike Penning

The National Audit’s Office (NAO) report acknowledged that it is too early to make judgements about value for money.

Both the NAO and Office for Budget Responsibility noted that the introduction of Personal Independence Payment is expected to deliver very significant savings for the taxpayer, estimated to be £3bn per year by 2018 as well as delivering fairer outcomes for disabled people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department made of Capita’s ability to handle large numbers of personal independence payment (PIP) claims before award of the PIP contract.

Mike Penning

The assessment of Capita’s ability to manage PIP claimant volumes was undertaken as part of the PIP Assessment Procurement exercise, conducted in line with Cabinet Office Guidelines.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the National Audit Office’s conclusion in its report on personal independence payments: early progress that his Department has increased the risk that the personal independence payment programme will not deliver value for money in the longer term.

Mike Penning

The National Audit’s Office (NAO) report acknowledged that it is too early to make judgements about value for money.

Both the NAO and Office for Budget Responsibility noted that the introduction of Personal Independence Payment is expected to deliver very significant savings for the taxpayer, estimated to be £3bn per year by 2018 as well as delivering fairer outcomes for disabled people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new personal independence payment claims were submitted by December 2013; and how many decisions have been made on those claims.

Mike Penning

I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Liverpool, West Derby and the hon Member for Airdrie and Shotts, official report, 5 March, column 850W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued to personal independence payment providers on calling in clients for personal independence payment assessments who are terminally ill.

Mike Penning

The ‘PIP Assessment Guide’, the Department’s guidance for Personal Independence Payment assessment providers, states that face-to-face consultations are not required where a claim has been referred under the ‘Special Rules for Terminal Illness’ provisions.

More information can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210722/pip-assessment-guide.pdf

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