Jacqui Lait (Beckenham, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

(1) how many people have received their health checks for invalidity benefits in each month since the introduction of the current health checks scheme; how many people were planned to receive such checks but have not; how long it is expected to take to provide checks to such people; and what the cost of doing so will be;

(2) how many people have come off each type of invalidity benefit in each month since the new system of health checks came into effect; and how many people remain on each benefit.

Jonathan R Shaw

 (Minister of State (Disabled People), Regional Affairs; Chatham & Aylesford, Labour)

The employment and support allowance was introduced in October 2008 and has replaced incapacity benefits for new customers. Alongside the employment and support allowance we have introduced a new more robust medical assessment—the work capability assessment, which focuses on what people can do, as well as what they cannot. The number of face-to-face medical assessments for all incapacity benefits completed by Atos Healthcare during each month is as follows:

The number of medical assessments undertaken was, until recently, below the number of cases coming in for assessment, but action has been taken which will by the summer raise these to a level that will clear the accumulated backlog. No additional payments will be made to clear overdue work capability assessments. The prices paid for assessments remain confidential.

As at November 2008, there were 2,593,010 incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants in Great Britain and, based on provisional figures, an additional 51,000 claimants of employment and support allowance.

Figures for the number of claimants moving off incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance are only available for November 2008, one month after the work capability assessment was introduced. Figures for the number of claimants moving off employment and support allowance are not yet available but are expected to be released later this summer.