Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope

A previous Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, is listed in the House of Lords Register of Interests (Session 2006-2007) as the Chairman of the Unum Customer Advisory Panel for which he received payment from Unum and additional payments for other work for Unum.

Chris Grayling: The work capability assessment was developed in 2008 with the assistance of technical working groups. As you may be aware, the Government consult widely with stakeholders and sources of public and private sector expertise, to ensure that its policies are evidence-based. Two Unum employees, a doctor and an occupational therapist, were invited to join the technical working group that carried out the review of the personal capability assessment. As with all members of the technical working group they were appointed as recognised experts in benefit assessment and in supporting return to work for people with disability.

I can confirm that since the initial review of the personal capability assessment as part of the technical working groups, that representatives of the company, Unum, have not been involved in either the administration or review of the work capability assessment.

The Department of Work and Pension has also not engaged with Unum in the design or administration of the appeals process.

I would suggest an application for the minutes of the Physical Function and Mental Health Technical Working Groups for the "Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment" project that first reported in September 2006 might be valuable.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/tpca.pdf

Is a start...

Extracts from the Report of the Physical Function and Mental Health Technical Working Groups.
Commissioned by DWP sept 2006.

There is still work to be done,to test the proposed new assignment in a live environment. This will be done by asking ATOS MEDICAL SERVICES DOCTORS to complete a PCA on incapacity benefit claimants.

Among the experts cited at being present at the meeting;

Sue Godby-UNUM PROVIDENT
Dr Angela Graham-ATOS ORIGIN
Dr Paul Stidolph-DWP
Ann Spaight-Chair of DISABILITY ALLOWANCE ADVISORY BOARD
Dr Peter Dewis-UNUM PROVIDENT

Thanks Dan, much appreciated.

Geoffrey .. Dig deep into the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (registered as an independent charity) and you will find that they too are a member of the same Atos family along with their partner the Royal College of Physicians of which the FOM is a faculty member of, and living rent free in the same accommodation.. By both groups distancing themselves and pertaining to be a different organisation from Atos/Unum they can gain additional seats on government advisory panels, give support to policies, and be additionally consulted on new legislation to give strength to the intended changes., all whilst being part of that same group.

In 2009 the FOM held their 30th Anniversary celebration at the House of Lords supported by their sponsors Serco and Atos Healthcare..

Occupational health services serving more than 1,000,000 Government and private employees had achieved SEQOHS accreditation by October 2012. this is managed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM). Staff working for some of the country’s biggest employers are receiving occupational health advice and support from accredited services; this includes 1,000,000 staff looked after by ATOS healthcare. A hint came from Cameron when he said “We are all in it together.”.

The Guardian, Wednesday 12 September 2012 21.00 BST

This week the sixth International Forum on Disability Management, IFDM 2012, takes place at Imperial College London. It is sponsored by some of the world's largest medical insurance companies, Unum among them, and speakers include DWP chief medical adviser Dr Bill Gunyeon and Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, formerly DWP chief medical adviser and director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University, which was sponsored by Unum from its inception in 2003 until 2009.

Unum's website states that during this sponsorship period "a series of papers was published, identifying the range of factors that determine why some people become long-term absentees". The Cardiff papers advocated a "biopsychosocial model" of disability which Unum says "informed its approach to medical underwriting". It is the same approach upon which the current Atos work capability assessment (WCA) is based. Concomitantly, the company were advising the UK government on welfare reform.

I have removed a number of annotations that were in breach of our policies: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/requ...

Ganesh - WhatDoTheyKnow volunteer

I am glad you removed them.......

It shows that the DWP must be running scared!