Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Paragraph: 37
We note the Department has made changes to improve training for health professionals around mental...
Recommendation
We note the Department has made changes to improve training for health professionals around mental health and safeguarding, and process changes, and also improved training for call handlers. Staff and contractors involved in any DWP health assessment process should undertake claimant safeguarding and suicide prevention training.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government stated that all staff working with claimants undertake comprehensive training to support vulnerable claimants, including those at risk of suicide or self-harm, and that assessment providers deliver suicide awareness and prevention training to all their staff.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
37
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
Health assessments for benefits 7 comparing them to assessments undertaken elsewhere in Government, such as social care. It should also ensure external researchers have access to good quality, anonymised data to complement this with independent research. (Paragraph 38) The Department’s assessments are not comparable to clinical assessments, because these focus on functional impairment, as set out in regulations. There are a range of ways in which government reviews health impacts, from the clinician in a health setting to a more metric or qualitative assessment in other settings. A direct comparison would not be feasible as there is not a like-for-like assessment. The Department does routinely carry out evaluations of policy changes, including many where external researchers are engaged. Methods used for each of these are designed to be appropriate to the specific type of intervention being evaluated. However, it would be extremely difficult to objectively separate the impact of the process on mental health from other confounding factors.
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