Medical Assessments Work And The Department Of Works And Pensions

EDM number 169 in 2014-15, proposed by Jeremy Corbyn on 24/06/2014.
Categorised under the topics of Benefits policy, Sickness, disability and carers' benefits and Working age benefits.

That this House believes that medical assessments for the Work Capability Assessment, the contract which Atos recently relinquished, should be brought back in-house; recalls that the failure of this contract, which was ended with keen agreement by Atos and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), follows a long history of criticism of the process and the company by politicians, press, public and DWP for their delivery of the healthcare contract, in particular the Work Capability Assessments; further believes that the current situation, with the contract yet to be granted, provides the opportunity for the Government to take responsibility and full control of the process by bringing the work and staff back in-house so that it can be delivered by the DWP; welcomes the benefits that in-house delivery would bring including the Department having direct control over processes and staffing and staff being able to work closely and interchangeably between core DWP work and those currently delivering the Atos contract, while recognising that this would go a long way to repairing the reputation of DWP medical assessment work; is concerned that awarding the contract to another private sector supplier could lead to a repeat of past mistakes, particularly as public spending cuts result in companies delivering contacts by making cuts to maintain profit margins; and urges the Government to stop the expensive bidding process now, bring the work and staff in-house, and take responsibility and control for improving the process for everyone concerned.

This motion has been signed by a total of 43 MPs.