Incapacity Benefit

Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many incapacity benefit claimants attended an appointment for a personal capability assessment in each of the last three years; and what percentage this figure represents of those incapacity benefit claimants asked to attend for such an assessment in each such year.

Jonathan Shaw
[holding answer 14 May 2009]: The available information is in the table.

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|April to March each year|Number |Percentage|
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|2006-07                 |507,734|77.4      |
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|2007-08                 |535,119|74.4      |
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|2008-09                 |513,511|72        |
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|Source:Medical Services |       |          |
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