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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 assessment he has made of the quality of feedback to hon. Members by (a) his Department and (b) private sector providers when they raise constituents’ concerns about personal independence payments.

Mike Penning

The Department for Work and Pensions and Ministers provide feedback to hon. Members in a range of ways, for example at meetings, during debates, through correspondence and by answering Parliamentary Questions. Where it is not possible to answer a particular query the Department will say so and indicate, where appropriate, when the information will become available in the future, for example through the release of statistical material.

The two assessment providers for Personal Independence Payment are responsible for dealing with complaints about their own respective levels of service and I understand that they may also deliver their own events for honourable members. Both providers have their own processes for dealing with enquiries from MPs.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has tested (a) assessment providers’ and (b) departmental plans for dealing with backlogs and high numbers of assessments.

Mike Penning

The Department does not have a target for completion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims whilst processes are bedding in. Clearly, we want to minimise the length of time claimants have to wait for assessments but the key requirement is to produce high quality assessments, to enable DWP decision makers to make the right decisions about benefit entitlement.

We are committed to driving up PIP performance and are in regular contact with our assessment providers to do this. We already monitor performance closely and liaise with assessment providers on a daily basis, supplemented by formal monthly performance review meetings. We will continue to work closely with assessment providers on an ongoing basis to monitor quality.

Our original Departmental operational delivery plans assumed a larger volume of assessment provider referrals than we are currently receiving and we have retained this surplus capacity using it to consolidate learning or carry out other duties. This will be available for deployment as cases are returned to the Department for decision maker action. The Department has contingency plans in place to secure additional capacity from other areas of the Department should assessment provider volumes exceed plans.

From 10 March we have included with the PIP2 ‘How your disability affects you’ questionnaire, issued to PIP claimants, communications explaining how long they might be expected to wait for a PIP assessment. This information is also available on Gov.uk.

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 average length of time taken was for personal independence payments to be made in Wales in each month for which data are available.

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 proportion of Capita personal independence payment assessments have involved people who were mentally ill since the introduction of that assessment.

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 tests his Department has made on its operating assumption across the whole claims process to identify future bottlenecks.

Mike Penning

The Department does not have a target for completion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims whilst processes are bedding in. Clearly, we want to minimise the length of time claimants have to wait for assessments but the key requirement is to produce high quality assessments, to enable DWP decision makers to make the right decisions about benefit entitlement.

We are committed to driving up PIP performance and are in regular contact with our assessment providers to do this. We already monitor performance closely and liaise with assessment providers on a daily basis, supplemented by formal monthly performance review meetings. We will continue to work closely with assessment providers on an ongoing basis to monitor quality.

Our original Departmental operational delivery plans assumed a larger volume of assessment provider referrals than we are currently receiving and we have retained this surplus capacity using it to consolidate learning or carry out other duties. This will be available for deployment as cases are returned to the Department for decision maker action. The Department has contingency plans in place to secure additional capacity from other areas of the Department should assessment provider volumes exceed plans.

From 10 March we have included with the PIP2 ‘How your disability affects you’ questionnaire, issued to PIP claimants, communications explaining how long they might be expected to wait for a PIP assessment. This information is also available on Gov.uk.

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 performance of Capita in the delivery of personal independence payments in Wales.

Mike Penning

Personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit and processes are currently bedding in. The Department’s contracts with Capita and Atos Healthcare for the delivery of assessments for personal independence payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department’s expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department.

Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. We are closely monitoring their progress against the Department’s expectations for service delivery and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards. In particular, for both providers, the end-to-end process for many claimants is taking significantly longer than originally anticipated. We are working with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. Special rules claims for terminally ill claimants are dealt with urgently by our assessment providers. The latest published statistics show that over 99% of people with terminal illnessess who have applied have been awarded the benefit, which means over 9,500 terminally ill claimants are now receiving personal independence payment.

Although limited data has started to feed through, we need to wait until the Department has quality assured, meaningful figures for publication. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy. An ad-hoc release of PIP information was published on 11 February 2014.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what outstanding commercial risks that might affect operational security his Department has identified in its relationship with contracted assessment providers.

Mike Penning

In the area of contracted assessment providers who are delivering Work Capability Assessments under the Medical Services Contract and Personal Independence Payment Assessments, the Department has no commercial risks that might affect operational security. Any commercial risks that might affect operational security are managed within the Department’s standard risk management framework and procedures.

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 on the amount of time to be taken for an individual to be assessed for a personal independence payment.

Mike Penning

The Department does not have a target for completion of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims whilst processes are bedding in. Clearly, we want to minimise the length of time claimants have to wait for assessments but the key requirement is to produce high quality assessments, to enable DWP decision makers to make the right decisions about benefit entitlement.

We are committed to driving up PIP performance and are in regular contact with our assessment providers to do this. We already monitor performance closely and liaise with assessment providers on a daily basis, supplemented by formal monthly performance review meetings. We will continue to work closely with assessment providers on an ongoing basis to monitor quality.

Our original Departmental operational delivery plans assumed a larger volume of assessment provider referrals than we are currently receiving and we have retained this surplus capacity using it to consolidate learning or carry out other duties. This will be available for deployment as cases are returned to the Department for decision maker action. The Department has contingency plans in place to secure additional capacity from other areas of the Department should assessment provider volumes exceed plans.

From 10 March we have included with the PIP2 ‘How your disability affects you’ questionnaire, issued to PIP claimants, communications explaining how long they might be expected to wait for a PIP assessment. This information is also available on Gov.uk.

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 performance of Capita on the delivery of personal independence payments for those who are terminally ill.

Mike Penning

Personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit and processes are currently bedding in. The Department’s contracts with Capita and Atos Healthcare for the delivery of assessments for personal independence payment include a full set of service level agreements setting out the Department’s expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department.

Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. We are closely monitoring their progress against the Department’s expectations for service delivery and are taking action to drive up performance where this does not meet the required standards. In particular, for both providers, the end-to-end process for many claimants is taking significantly longer than originally anticipated. We are working with the providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. Special rules claims for terminally ill claimants are dealt with urgently by our assessment providers. The latest published statistics show that over 99% of people with terminal illnessess who have applied have been awarded the benefit, which means over 9,500 terminally ill claimants are now receiving personal independence payment.

Although limited data has started to feed through, we need to wait until the Department has quality assured, meaningful figures for publication. We intend to publish official statistics on PIP from spring 2014 in line with our publication strategy. An ad-hoc release of PIP information was published on 11 February 2014.