Parliamentary "Written answers" 1st October brings us this:
"Employment: Work Capability Assessment
Question
Asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people are employed by the Department for Work and Pensions as decision makers for the purposes of the work capability assessment; and how many of those decision makers have so far received additional training as recommended by Professor Harrington in his independent review of the work capability assessment.[HL2126]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): There are 937 (2011-12 full time equivalent*) people employed by the department as ESA WCA Decision Makers.
Professor Harrington’s recommendations in respect of the training needs of decision makers in relation to the work capability assessment have been implemented in full. New learning was made available for decision makers on the WCA process and specifically on how to gather and use available evidence to make quality limited capability for work (LCW) and limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) decisions. Four additional training modules have been introduced in order to complement the existing decision-maker training routeway and allow us to respond as effectively as possible to Professor Harrington’s recommendations. To date those modules have been attended by a combined total of almost 4,000 participants.
The training needs of individual decision makers will vary according to their experience and not every decision maker will need to attend every module, but regular consideration is given to the ongoing training and development needs of every decision maker to ensure that each has the requisite skills and knowledge to make good decisions which give appropriate weight to additional evidence.
*Full time equivalent is a way of presenting a total count of staff based on contracted hours worked in proportion to those hours of full time staff (36 hours in London and 37 elsewhere). FTE is the way staffing figures are presented in departmental reports and headcount profile tables, and workforce plans."
"Employment: Work Capability Assessment
Question
Asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people are employed by the Department for Work and Pensions as decision makers for the purposes of the work capability assessment; and how many of those decision makers have so far received additional training as recommended by Professor Harrington in his independent review of the work capability assessment.[HL2126]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): There are 937 (2011-12 full time equivalent*) people employed by the department as ESA WCA Decision Makers.
Professor Harrington’s recommendations in respect of the training needs of decision makers in relation to the work capability assessment have been implemented in full. New learning was made available for decision makers on the WCA process and specifically on how to gather and use available evidence to make quality limited capability for work (LCW) and limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) decisions. Four additional training modules have been introduced in order to complement the existing decision-maker training routeway and allow us to respond as effectively as possible to Professor Harrington’s recommendations. To date those modules have been attended by a combined total of almost 4,000 participants.
The training needs of individual decision makers will vary according to their experience and not every decision maker will need to attend every module, but regular consideration is given to the ongoing training and development needs of every decision maker to ensure that each has the requisite skills and knowledge to make good decisions which give appropriate weight to additional evidence.
*Full time equivalent is a way of presenting a total count of staff based on contracted hours worked in proportion to those hours of full time staff (36 hours in London and 37 elsewhere). FTE is the way staffing figures are presented in departmental reports and headcount profile tables, and workforce plans."
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