Clause 10
Welfare Reform Bill
9:10 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
Thank you, Mr. Amess. It is good to be under your chairmanship today. The weather has somewhat improved since our previous sitting, and long may that continue. I gather from the radio this morning that I will be confronting storms, snow, ice and all sorts of other things when I return to my constituency this evening, so I hope that the atmosphere in the Committee this morning will be more in keeping with the atmosphere outside than with that in my constituency this evening.
Both the amendments would introduce training requirements into clause 10, which relates to work-focused health-related assessments. Amendment No. 31 specifies training in work-related needs and support. Amendment No. 261 refers to a health care professional having
“training in disabilities and health conditions”.
Both amendments seek to probe the Government’s intentions regarding the training of those who will carry out work-focused health-related assessments, and I gather that the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire), will respond to the debate, so my comments are addressed to her. I raise the issue because it was suggested in our previous debate that the assessments could sometimes be undertaken by different health care professionals from those who will carry out the limited capability for work and the limited capability for work-related activity assessments, and we had a good debate about the training needs of those involved.
My key point is that it is important for Ministers to make it clear that they will ensure that those who carry out these important work-focused health-related assessments—we have discussed their functions before, so I do not need to go into them again—have a proper understanding of the wide range of disabilities, impairments and health conditions that those they are talking to might have. That is the burden of amendment No. 261. If they have that understanding, they should—this is the burden of amendment No. 31—be able to understand such conditions and impairments and make health care recommendations that might enhance people’s ability to undertake work-related activity. With those few remarks, I ask the Under-Secretary to set out the Government’s intentions.