Clause 10
Welfare Reform Bill
5:00 pm
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
Thank you, Mr. Amess. I have one or two wider points to make about the nature of work-focused health-related assessments. Can the Minister confirm that those assessments are intended to be similar in some ways to the capability assessment and report that is currently undertaken in the pathways areas, in focusing very much on what people can do—identifying activities in which they can take part and specific health interventions that may help them to get themselves closer to the labour market and ready for work?
There has been some concern that the capability report currently used in the pathways areas is doing some work that is similar to what the personal capability assessment is designed to do, particularly under the revised programme that has been introduced.