---

Welfare Reform Bill

I too support the amendment. The noble Lord has heard me carrying on enough about people with ME/CFS, but in some cases they have been told that it is a condition of their continuing to get benefit that they take a course of cognitive behaviour therapy and graded exercises. The NICE guidelines recommend CBT in certain instances for people with mild to moderate ME—I am using "ME" as a shortcut—but say that it has to be a joint decision between the medical practitioner and the patient, that it must be with the patient’s consent and that the cognitive behaviour therapy must be given by somebody who understands and has had training in ME. I have seen a medical assessor’s report where he recommended that a particular claimant had a course of CBT because there was nothing really wrong with him. That is not acceptable, and we need something more tightly on the books.