Welfare Reform Bill

I feel well and truly welcomed to my position and to this Committee. I thank noble Lords for their warm welcome. The assessment for limited capability for work and limited capability for work-related activity will take place during the same appointment and will be conducted by the same healthcare professional. As set out in the draft regulations under Clauses 8 and 9, where a claimant is asked to attend a medical examination, it will be with a healthcare professional approved by the Secretary of State. This means we will continue the current practice whereby all those carrying out medical examinations will undergo training specified and agreed by the department’s chief medical adviser before being approved by the Secretary of State to carry out those examinations. With reference to the point made by the noble Countess, Lady Mar, one of the modules that the continuing professional development of health professionals covers is chronic fatigue syndrome. The healthcare professional must subsequently maintain standards set by the Secretary of State to keep that approval. The training the healthcare professionals receive equips them to assess the functional effects of any disabling condition, either physical or mental. That is what is required to be able to assess limited capability for work or limited capability for work-related activity. In addition, the healthcare professionals who carry out the assessment are also trained in the evaluation of written evidence so that they will be able accurately to identify those who will be in the support group on the basis of paper evidence. We do not intend that the training itself will be prescribed in regulations; this will allow us to maintain the necessary flexibility to change the requirements when required—for example, to respond to feedback that a specific training need has been identified that applies to all healthcare professionals. We all recognise that that is very important. Before the new PCA is introduced, we will develop new training for the Atos Origin healthcare professionals, who will carry out the revised assessment. So new training will be developed. We shall seek advice from appropriate organisations with a special interest in specific health conditions when we devise that training, which I think will be welcome. For example, the National Autistic Society has given valuable advice in devising training assessments, especially for people with Asperger’s syndrome. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, made a point about whether the personal capability assessment for people with mental health conditions will be carried out by health professionals with expertise in that particular condition. The issue is very much about professionals being trained to assess functional capability. They are trained to understand mental health conditions, to have advanced interviewing skills and to assess customers’ issues with empathy. It may be appropriate in some situations to use healthcare professionals with specialist expertise—for example, in assessing people with mental health conditions. But entitlement to benefit depends on the effect of a person’s condition on his functional ability; it does not depend on detailed clinical knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of the conditions—it is functional ability. All healthcare professionals are trained especially in assessing the functional effects of any disabling condition.