Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to disability benefits on spending by the NHS.

Justin Tomlinson

Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance are universal benefits that help with the extra costs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. Spending on these benefits increased by over £2 billion over the course of the last parliament and we expect to be spending over £21 billion this year. We would expect individuals to be accessing the relevant support services, regardless of benefit receipt and do not expect the reforms to disability benefits to impact health services. We have also set up the Work and Health Joint Unit with the Department of Health to improve health and employment outcomes for claimants.