Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 9725, with reference to his Department’s response to the Disability Benefits Consortium report on PIP Assessment Providers, published 4 April 2015, what steps his Department has taken to assess the usefulness of audio recordings as part of the employment and support allowance assessment process.

Priti Patel

A pilot of the audio recording of face-to-face Work Capability Assessments was undertaken in 2011 to “determine whether such an approach is helpful for claimants and improves the quality of assessments”. The pilot showed recording did not improve the quality of assessments. Less than half those taking part thought it would be helpful to them and only a handful requested a copy.

However, despite very low requests for audio recordings, we are continuing to make this service available to those Employment and Support Allowance claimants who request it.