Written questions by Downie.

What evidence of a ADHD diagnosis on the impact on daily life is required for PIP assessments.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to help with the extra costs that arise from long-term health conditions or disabilities. Entitlement is determined by the functional impact a person’s condition has on their daily living and mobility activities. The assessment looks at an individual’s ability to carry out a series of key everyday activities which are fundamental to living an independent life. This approach applies to all conditions. Health professionals delivering assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis including specific training on health conditions and how to identify their impact on claimants’ ability to carry out the activities in the assessment. PIP case managers consider information provided by claimants on claim forms, along with any other supporting evidence, further medical evidence that we receive from treating health professionals, and advice from our contracted assessment providers.

Whether proof of a ADHD diagnosis is required for its impact on daily life to be included in a PIP assessment.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to help with the extra costs that arise from long-term health conditions or disabilities. Entitlement is determined by the functional impact a person’s condition has on their daily living and mobility activities. The assessment looks at an individual’s ability to carry out a series of key everyday activities which are fundamental to living an independent life. This approach applies to all conditions. Health professionals delivering assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis including specific training on health conditions and how to identify their impact on claimants’ ability to carry out the activities in the assessment. PIP case managers consider information provided by claimants on claim forms, along with any other supporting evidence, further medical evidence that we receive from treating health professionals, and advice from our contracted assessment providers.

Whether the effects of ADHD on daily life are included in PIP assessments.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to help with the extra costs that arise from long-term health conditions or disabilities. Entitlement is determined by the functional impact a person’s condition has on their daily living and mobility activities. The assessment looks at an individual’s ability to carry out a series of key everyday activities which are fundamental to living an independent life. This approach applies to all conditions. Health professionals delivering assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis including specific training on health conditions and how to identify their impact on claimants’ ability to carry out the activities in the assessment. PIP case managers consider information provided by claimants on claim forms, along with any other supporting evidence, further medical evidence that we receive from treating health professionals, and advice from our contracted assessment providers.

How many people with Parkinson's Disease are in receipt of the Universal Credit health element.

The information is not readily available.

How many people with Parkinson's get contribution based Employment Support Allowance and are allocated to the Support Group.

As of May 2025, there were 1,800 claimants in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance in the Support Group with the main disabling condition ‘Parkinson’s disease or syndrome’. In the same month, there were 300 claimants in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance in the Support Group with the main disabling condition ‘Parkinsonism’. Data is based on primary medical condition as recorded on the ESA computer systems. Claimants may have multiple disabling conditions on which their entitlement is based but only the primary condition is available for statistical purposes and shown in these statistics.

How many people with Parkinson's Disease listed as their primary condition are in receipt of the Universal Credit health element.

The information requested is not held by the Department. A defined ‘primary condition’ is not recorded at the Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

What steps he is taking to ensure the compatibility of his Department's guidance on political crowdfunding for people on Universal Credit with Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Money received personally by an individual through crowdfunding, including for their political purposes, is generally treated as capital in Universal Credit, and can affect eligibility and payment amounts if a customer’s total capital exceeds £6,000. There are no plans to review these rules.

What guidance his Department has issued on whether people on Universal Credit are entitled to raise funds for the purpose of standing for election.

Funding received and managed by local and national political parties would not be taken into account in assessing an individual’s entitlement for Universal Credit (UC). Money received personally by an individual, including for their political purposes, is generally treated as capital in UC, and can affect eligibility and payment amounts if a customer’s total capital exceeds £6,000. There are no plans to review these rules.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising Statutory Sick Pay for the parents and carers of children with severe health conditions.

Statutory Sick Pay provides financial support to individual employees who are sick or incapable of work. It is not designed to provide financial support for parents or carers who are not able to work because their child is sick or has a health condition. Parents who cannot work because their child is sick, rather than being directly incapable of work due to sickness themselves, have a number of options open to them such as asking their employer if they can work flexibly or requesting to take emergency leave. Parents may also be eligible to apply for welfare benefits, such as Carer's allowance or Universal Credit, depending on their circumstances. The Department for Business and Trade is currently developing a consultation on employment rights for carers, including specific measures for the parents and carers of seriously ill children. This will consider what employment rights may help families in such distressing situations. The consultation will take place in 2026.

How many Universal Credit health element applicants (a) had Parkinson's as their primary condition and (b) were found eligible in the last (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) twelve months.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the need for amputee veterans to undertake capability assessments every two years.

The Government has not proposed to introduce two year assessments for any specific group. Currently, Work Capability Assessment re-assessments are prioritised for customers on Employment and Support Allowance and the health element of Universal Credit who report a change in their health condition. Routine department-led reassessments are scheduled according to expected prognosis length for recovery and subject to available assessment capacity. Individuals who have Limited Capability for Work- and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA), with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function means that they will always have LCWRA and are unlikely ever to be able to move into work, are not routinely reassessed. Our wide-ranging package of reforms to health and disability benefits, set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will improve experiences of the system for those who need it. The functional impact and severity of a condition can significantly vary across individuals, which is why we will continue to ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed.

Whether amputee veterans will need to undertake capacity reassessments ever two years as part of proposed welfare reforms.

The Government has not proposed to introduce two year assessments for any specific group. Currently, Work Capability Assessment re-assessments are prioritised for customers on Employment and Support Allowance and the health element of Universal Credit who report a change in their health condition. Routine department-led reassessments are scheduled according to expected prognosis length for recovery and subject to available assessment capacity. Individuals who have Limited Capability for Work- and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA), with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function means that they will always have LCWRA and are unlikely ever to be able to move into work, are not routinely reassessed. Our wide-ranging package of reforms to health and disability benefits, set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, will improve experiences of the system for those who need it. The functional impact and severity of a condition can significantly vary across individuals, which is why we will continue to ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will not need to be reassessed.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40712, what the cost to the public purse was of the Disability Confidence Scheme in each of the last four years.

The Disability Confident scheme expenditure is not separately recorded within departmental budgets.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40715 on Universal Credit: Disability, what steps she is taking to ensure that savings reinvested into (a) work support and (b) training opportunities impact recipients of Universal Credit health top up in (i) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (ii) Scotland and (iii) other devolved administrations.

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work. This is backed up by £1 billion of new funding across the United Kingdom, with the share of funding for devolved governments calculated in the usual way. In Northern Ireland employment support is fully transferred. In Scotland and Wales, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Scottish and Welsh Governments have concurrent powers to deliver employment support, with some provision delivered and funded directly by DWP and some funding devolved through the block grant. As outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are committed to working in partnership with the Scottish and Welsh Governments on shared employment ambitions across devolved and reserved provision, which includes employment support measures in the Health and Disability Green Paper.

What assessment she has made of the impact of the Disability Confident Scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work.

In 2022, the department commissioned a survey to understand from members’ perspectives the impact that signing up to the scheme has had on their recruitment and retention attitudes and practices towards disabled people. The survey can be accessed on gov.uk using the following link: Disability Confident: survey of participating employers, May 2022 - GOV.UK There are currently over 19,000 employers signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. Collectively, these employers estimate over 12 million employees work in their organisations. It is not known how many of these employees are disabled, have a health condition, or are direct users of the scheme. No assessment has been made of the impact of the scheme on the ability of disabled people to find work. I have been discussing with stakeholders in Disability Confident ideas for making the scheme criteria more robust, and plan to bring forward proposals for this in due course.

With reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those reforms on the finances of people in receipt of carers' allowance caring for someone in receipt of PIP.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. The publication ‘Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts’ may be of interest. In particular, Table A1 on page 6 and Table A4 on page 9.A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

How many people in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK receive the maximum award from PIP.

The Department regularly publishes Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics. The 'PIP Cases with Entitlement' dataset on Stat-Xplore, which contains the number of people entitled to PIP by geography including Parliamentary constituency and components received, can be used to calculate the number of people receiving PIP at the highest level. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: Introduction to the Stat-Xplore User Guide. PIP has been devolved to Scotland since April 2020 and existing claims are currently being moved to the Scottish replacement benefit Adult Disability Payment.

Whether she has conducted an equality impact assessment on proposals in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025.

We published an Equality Analysis and Policy Rationale impacts alongside the Spring Statement. Further analysis for the measures in the Green Paper, not included in the Spring Statement, will be published in due course.

How many people under 22 in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK will be impacted by changes to the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit.

No decision has been made on this policy. The key principle of our focus for 18-21 year olds should be helping them to be earning or learning, because of the long-term scarring effects for young people of a period of unemployment. That is why we are consulting on delaying access to the UC health top up until age 22 with savings reinvested into work support and training opportunities. Universal Credit Health caseload statistics are available on DWP Stat-Xplore and were most recently updated with December 2024 data.In December 2024, 13,650 and 68,350 16- to 21-year-olds in Great Britain were in the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) groups respectively. Table: 16–21-year-olds in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar, (b) Scotland and (c) Great Britain on the UC Health caseload (December 2024) LCWLCWRATotal(a) Dunfermline and Dollar20110130(b) Scotland1,3807,4608,830(c) Great Britain13,65068,35082,000 Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data and are rounded to the nearest 10.Totals may not sum due to this disclosure control and rounding.Figures are a count of the number of people on Universal Credit health on the second Thursday of the month.Figures are Experimental Official Statistics Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/ (opens in new window). An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

When she last met with Motability; and what she had discussions on.

The Motability Scheme is open to claimants who are in receipt of an eligible benefit. If a claimant elects to join the Scheme, the Department directly transfers the mobility allowance to Motability Operations on behalf of the eligible claimant. The Motability Scheme does not receive any direct funding from the Department for Work and Pensions. A range of external bodies scrutinised the Scheme between 2018 and 2020, and the Government responded to each of the reports. The Motability Foundation is independent of government, and regulated by the Charity Commission, so is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme. The department does however work closely with Motability and is responsible for the disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme. Department officials have regular meetings with Motability and will continue to do so.As the Minister for Social Security and Disability, I met with Motability Foundation in November 2024 to discuss the Scheme and its strategic objectives.