Benefits Agency Medical Service

EDM number 65 in 1997-98, proposed by Roger Berry on 03/06/1997.

That this House would deplore any decision by the Government to continue the previous Administration's policy of contracting out the Benefits Agency Medical Service to the private sector, believes that there should be Parliamentary debate on the role and accountability of contractors, in particular any contracting-out of the decision-making 'adjudication' function; further believes that contracting-out of the assessment of disability benefits affecting over six million people and a budget of ú16 billion is a policy development of such magnitude that there should be Parliamentary scrutiny of the scope of the service to be contracted out and the terms of the contract offered; is extremely concerned that there should be safeguards to ensure the confidentiality and limited use of sensitive personal information especially where private companies may have commercial interests in a data bank of claimant information or may already have access to other data bases with which to cross-rereference this information; notes the lack of Parliamentary procedures for the accountability of public services which are contracted out to the priva te sector; believes that new procedures need to be introduced as part of the modernisation of Government; calls for a halt to the process until there has been a full Parliamentary debate on the role of the Benefits Agency Medical Service, the implications of contractorisation, how value for money is to be obtained and how the quality of service standards are to be maintained and improved; and calls on the Government to undertake urgent consultation on this matter with organisations representing disabled people.

This motion has been signed by a total of 41 MPs, 3 of these signatures have been withdrawn.