Written question asked by Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 17 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 March 2010. It was answered by Jonathan Shaw (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Disabled

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of claims for employment and support allowance involved a request for medical information using an ESA113 form in each month since October 2008.

Answer

The available information is the table.

Total number of employment and support allowance medical referrals and the total number where an ESA113 form was requested—October 2008 to February 2010.
	Employment and support allowance medical referrals	Number of GP reports requested	Percentage of GP reports requested
October 2008	191	0	0
November 2008	10,226	175	2
December 2008	26,453	743	3
January 2009	43,035	1,564	4
February 2009	48,149	2,374	5
March 2009	55,567	3,078	6
April 2009	52,244	2,832	5
May 2009	53,364	3,453	6
June 2009	58,016	4,029	7
July 2009	59,314	4,028	7
August 2009	57,661	3,623	6
September 2009	62,792	4,405	7
October 2009	61,813	4,465	7
November 2009	67,480	5,238	8
December 2009	54,794	4,871	9
January 2010	58,898	5,247	9
Total	62,770	5,163	8
Source:
Atos Healthcare Management Information published to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Secondary information