Work Capability Assessment
Work and Pensions
Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the level of transparency in the work capability assessment process.
Mark Hoban (Fareham, Conservative)
The work capability assessment (WCA) is subject to an ongoing process of review, evaluation and refinement. As part of this continuous improvement, the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (which created the WCA) contains a requirement for an annual independent review of the WCA for the first five years of operation.
Professor Malcolm Harrington has now carried out two independent reviews of the WCA, both of which have been published, and is currently taking forward his third annual review.
In addition a Department-led review of the work capability assessment was published in March 2010. The review made a number of recommendations for improving the assessment and these changes were implemented in March 2011.