Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please provide the following information on Atos Origin, your contractors for medical assessments:
1. What is the annual cost of the contract or contracts with ATOS?
2. How many assessments were made in the last 12 months?
3. How many complaints were made regarding the assessments?
4. How many complaints were found to be justified and upheld?
5. In the case of complaints being upheld does ATOS or DWP compensate customers for creating incorrect data on them?
6.Does the DWP re open and reassess cases that were held to have been wrongly assessed by ATOS?
7.In the case of people being treated by NHS GPs, physiotherapists and surgeons, why is it necessary to add more cost to the
government by asking for a rather amateurish health assessment from ATOS ? In my case it was a grossly inefficient and amateurish farce!The findings contradicted the professionals and recorded the assessment wrongly by missing out points and putting answers in that were not given.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/statistics_and_information_on_at#i...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/how_many_esa_medicals_have_atos#in...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/number_of_esa_benefit_claimants#in...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/atos_healthcare_cost_to_taxpayer#c...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/decision_making_and_appeals_lack#i...
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/length_of_induction_training_for
PDF version
The Department for Work and Pensions has been ordered to publish withheld information on the Government Gateway contract following a decision from the Information Tribunal.
The DWP had previously released some information on the £46.7m contract awarded to Atos Origin for the for the design, build and operation
of the service, as requested by Peter Collingbourne under the Freedom of Information Act.
But the department appealed to the Information Commissioner to withhold certain information on the grounds that it could harm commercial interests.
The DWP said that releasing certain information "would reduce the DWP's ability to obtain the best value for money for future contracts". The department also argued that if competitors had access to "detailed pricing and service terms" then contractor Atos may no longer wish to be a potential bidder.
But the Information Tribunal, the Information Commissioner's appeals body, said that it was in the "public interest" for the information to be released.
The tribunal said: "The appellant [is] to disclose to the complainant all of disputed information except the financial model and the location and specification of the Atos data centre."
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=14250