Annex A

Annex A

Dear Mr Tyes

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request which you sent to the Adelphi, London, on 23 November. A copy of which was forwarded to me, to respond to in my role as DWP Medical Services Freedom of Information Officer.

In your letter you asked, to date, since (1 November 2008) Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) introduced the answers to the following questions:

1) How many clients have been sent for WCA?

2) How many WCA appointments have been cancelled, postponed and/or

rearranged within 7 days of the scheduled date?

3) As for 2 - how many on the day of the appointment?

4) How many clients and how many WCA have been handled by ATOS

Healthcare (Cambs)

5) How many of ATOS appointments for WCA have been cancelled,

postponed and/or rearranged on the day of the appointment?

1) How many clients have been sent for WCA?

Since ESA was introduced there has been a total of 762,802 ESA assessments requested.

2) How many WCA appointments have been cancelled, postponed and/or rearranged within 7 days of the scheduled date or 3) on the day of the appointment?

There were 135,578 appointments cancelled, postponed etc within 7 days of the scheduled date of those 66,611 were cancelled, postponed etc on the day of the scheduled date. These figures include those where the claimant advises they cannot attend, those cancelled by either the DWP or Atos Healthcare.

4) How many clients and how many WCA have been handled by ATOS Healthcare (Cambs)

There were in total 6,377 appointments handled by the Cambridgeshire Examination Centre, of which 2,163 were ESA assessments.

5) How many of ATOS appointments for WCA have been cancelled, postponed and/or rearranged on the day of the appointment by ATOS Healthcare (Cambs)

DWP do not hold the statistical information regarding assessments cancelled, postponed, or rearranged for individual Examination Centres.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, 5th Floor The Adelphi, 1-11, John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

DWP Central Freedom of Information Team

e-mail: [DWP request email]

Our Ref: FoI 2405

15 January 2010