DWP Ministers meet regularly with external organisations in relation to the Department’s work and welfare reform. Details of meetings with external organisations up to and including March 2014 are published by the Cabinet Office as part of the Government’s commitment to transparency, and these details are available at:

http://data.gov.uk/dataset/82fd6446-aa45-4032-9eae-2524a66d8b6b

Information from the remainder of 2014 to February 2015 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.

If a letter was sent from the hon. Lady to me to be answered—such letters should always be answered by the Prime Minister to other Members of Parliament, and I will look into what happened in that case. Let me put on record how hard the correspondence unit works because it gets thousands of letters, including from Members of Parliament, every week of the year. I will look into that and ensure that she gets a proper

reply from me. I say to all those living in Hampstead and Kilburn that they will be getting lots of letters from me in the coming weeks.

Cancer patients are increasingly positive about their care, with 89% rating it as excellent or very good, and this comes as the National Health Service treats more patients for cancer than ever before. The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results in 2014 show in over half the questions asked, compared to the 2010 survey, patients reporting positively on areas, including feeling they were given enough information, being offered a range of treatment options and being treated with respect and dignity. Where they are telling us we need to do better it is important that swift action is taken and NHS trusts and commissioners must reflect on their results and take action as appropriate.

NHS England is working with NHS Improving Quality and Macmillan Cancer Support to ensure that improvement work is supported by spreading good practice across hospitals providing care in a drive to reduce national variation in patients’ experience of care and raise overall standards, including in London. This includes the experience of care for black and minority ethnic (BME) patients and vulnerable groups.

The Cancer Patient Experience Advisory Group, at its January meeting, will discuss priorities for improvement in cancer patient experience, including for BME patients.

Cancer patients are increasingly positive about their care, with 89% rating it as excellent or very good, and this comes as the National Health Service treats more patients for cancer than ever before. The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results in 2014 show in over half the questions asked, compared to the 2010 survey, patients reporting positively on areas, including feeling they were given enough information, being offered a range of treatment options and being treated with respect and dignity. Where they are telling us we need to do better it is important that swift action is taken and NHS trusts and commissioners must reflect on their results and take action as appropriate.

NHS England is working with NHS Improving Quality and Macmillan Cancer Support to ensure that improvement work is supported by spreading good practice across hospitals providing care in a drive to reduce national variation in patients’ experience of care and raise overall standards, including in London. This includes the experience of care for black and minority ethnic (BME) patients and vulnerable groups.

The Cancer Patient Experience Advisory Group, at its January meeting, will discuss priorities for improvement in cancer patient experience, including for BME patients.

The information requested is shown in the table below.

Outcomes of initial and repeat Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) functional assessments and Incapacity Benefits Reassessments (IBR) by disease code: October 2008 – September 2013

Source: Data in the tables above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. “-“denotes nil or under 50.

2. SG – Support Group

WRAG – Work Related Activity Group

FWW – Fit For Work

3. The outcome recorded is the final DWP Decision Maker’s decision or the recommendation made by the Atos Healthcare Professional where the Decision Maker’s decision is not yet available.

4. Motor neurone disease is shown in the table as 'Spinal muscular atrophy'.

5. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. In October 2008, ESA replaced IB for new claims. Starting with a trial in October 2010, and reaching a full scale national roll-out in April 2011, existing IB claims began to be phased out, with claimants reassessed to see if they qualify for ESA instead.

6. The reassessment of existing incapacity benefits claimants was rolled out nationally from April 2011.

The information requested is shown in the table below.

Number and proportion of repeat functional assessments for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants by disease code: October 2008 – September 2013

Source: Data in the table above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Proportions are shown to 2 decimal places.

2. Motor neurone disease is shown in the table as 'Spinal muscular atrophy'.

3. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. In October 2008, ESA replaced IB for new claims. Starting with a trial in October 2010, and reaching a full scale national roll-out in April 2011, existing IB claims began to be phased out, with claimants reassessed to see if they qualify for ESA instead.

The information you requested is commercially sensitive and releasing details of the unit cost of each assessment would, or would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Atos Healthcare.

Professor Eileen Munro undertook a wide-ranging independent review of the child protection system in England reporting in 2011. This review looked at the system as a whole, including the adequacy of the child protection legislation. The Department for Education has since clarified the legislation through the revised statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013’ so all organisations working with vulnerable children know what the law says they and others must do.

The Department will continue to monitor the current legislation and review options to strengthen the system to keep children safe.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to ensuring that the service complaints process is as fair, effective and efficient as it can be. Since the introduction of the new service complaints system in 2008, the MOD has sought to learn from best practice and improve the manner in which complaints are managed. As part of this focus on continual improvement, in January 2013 a new system for service complaints commissioner (SCC) oversight of the complaints process took effect, requiring the services to inform the SCC of cases likely to take longer than 24 weeks to resolve.

The SCC's annual report for 2012, laid in the House on 21 March 2013, and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee's report on the work of the SCC (HC 720), published in February 2013, both recommended changes to the role. The MOD is therefore currently considering, with the SCC, how the role might be developed and reformed. That work is focusing on how any improvements in the future could make the system more effective and efficient, particularly in tackling delays.

Service complaints are recorded on the joint personnel administration system, but an exercise to distinguish complaints made by reservists from those made by regulars could be performed only at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to ensuring that the service complaints process is as fair, effective and efficient as it can be. Since the introduction of the new service complaints system in 2008, the MOD has sought to learn from best practice and improve the manner in which complaints are managed. As part of this focus on continual improvement, in January 2013 a new system for service complaints commissioner (SCC) oversight of the complaints process took effect, requiring the services to inform the SCC of cases likely to take longer than 24 weeks to resolve.

The SCC's annual report for 2012, laid in the House on 21 March 2013, and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee's report on the work of the SCC (HC 720), published in February 2013, both recommended changes to the role. The MOD is therefore currently considering, with the SCC, how the role might be developed and reformed. That work is focusing on how any improvements in the future could make the system more effective and efficient, particularly in tackling delays.

Service complaints are recorded on the joint personnel administration system, but an exercise to distinguish complaints made by reservists from those made by regulars could be performed only at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to ensuring that the service complaints process is as fair, effective and efficient as it can be. Since the introduction of the new service complaints system in 2008, the MOD has sought to learn from best practice and improve the manner in which complaints are managed. As part of this focus on continual improvement, in January 2013 a new system for service complaints commissioner (SCC) oversight of the complaints process took effect, requiring the services to inform the SCC of cases likely to take longer than 24 weeks to resolve.

The SCC's annual report for 2012, laid in the House on 21 March 2013, and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee's report on the work of the SCC (HC 720), published in February 2013, both recommended changes to the role. The MOD is therefore currently considering, with the SCC, how the role might be developed and reformed. That work is focusing on how any improvements in the future could make the system more effective and efficient, particularly in tackling delays.

Service complaints are recorded on the joint personnel administration system, but an exercise to distinguish complaints made by reservists from those made by regulars could be performed only at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to ensuring that the service complaints process is as fair, effective and efficient as it can be. Since the introduction of the new service complaints system in 2008, the MOD has sought to learn from best practice and improve the manner in which complaints are managed. As part of this focus on continual improvement, in January 2013 a new system for service complaints commissioner (SCC) oversight of the complaints process took effect, requiring the services to inform the SCC of cases likely to take longer than 24 weeks to resolve.

The SCC's annual report for 2012, laid in the House on 21 March 2013, and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee's report on the work of the SCC (HC 720), published in February 2013, both recommended changes to the role. The MOD is therefore currently considering, with the SCC, how the role might be developed and reformed. That work is focusing on how any improvements in the future could make the system more effective and efficient, particularly in tackling delays.

Service complaints are recorded on the joint personnel administration system, but an exercise to distinguish complaints made by reservists from those made by regulars could be performed only at disproportionate cost.

I am always very willing to discuss issues relating to the living wage with the hon. Lady or with anyone else. However, I hope that when the hon. Lady talks to her constituents she is honest enough to tell them that the reason they find themselves in so much difficulty is that the last Government made such a mess of the economy, and caused so many people to collapse into low incomes and very poor jobs. It was the Labour party that caused that. We are changing it, and restoring the previous position.

The hon. Lady will be glad to know that the Government are looking at zero-hours contracts. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, in which I am also a Minister, undertook an information-gathering exercise over the summer. We are looking closely at what can be done to prevent the abuse of zero-hours contracts where it exists.

I am very happy to look at the individual case the hon. Lady raises, which actually links to the last question, about modern-day slavery. Sometimes immigration rules have caused difficulty for

those who want to flee the people who are keeping them entrapped in their homes, so I am very happy to take up the individual case.

Food banks are not part of Government policy and, as such, the Department for Work and Pensions does not hold or collect information on them. The Department has no plans to review the use of food banks

DEFRA has commissioned a research to review evidence on the landscape of food provision and access in the UK. The work comprises a short research project assessing publicly available evidence on the provision of food aid in the UK. The conclusions of this work will be available in the summer and published on the Government's website.

The information is not readily available in the format requested and there are currently no plans to publish such information.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Civil society has always played a role in helping the worst off.

To better enable this the Government reversed the decision of the previous Government not to signpost claimants to food banks through Jobcentre Plus. Statistics are not currently collected on the number of referrals to food banks. As with all policy this is kept under review.

DWP does not collate or hold numbers of the referrals to food banks.