ESA/WCA inquiry chair: ‘Victims are NOT being sidelined’

Mike here expresses his misgivings at Dame Anne Begg’s claim that some of the personal testimonies the public have submitted to the Work and Pensions Committee will not be side-lined. Dame Begg claims that, although some of the personal testimony will be circulated as background information, it will still be treated as evidence. It just won’t be included with formal evidence. Mike concludes that her assurance that it will be still be treated as evidence is not entirely convincing, and makes the point that we will have to keep the inquiry under very careful scrutiny. I have to say that I share the widespread cynicism towards inquiries, as all too often they are simply cosmetic in function, intended to show that the government is doing something, when in fact it has absolutely no intention of doing anything. I hope in this case that I’m wrong, and the Committee will treat all the evidence with the impartiality and scrupulous concern it deserves.

Mike Sivier's blog

Dame Anne Begg. [Image: BBC] Dame Anne Begg has responded to concerns that people who submitted evidence to the Commons Work and Pensions Committee’s inquiry into Employment and Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments were being sidelined – with a denial.

The committee’s chairperson said the call for evidence generated 190 submissions, and every single submission will be circulated to all committee members.

In addition, the committee clerk in charge of the inquiry, who will be writing the brief for committee members, has carefully read all the submissions as they have come in, she stated in an email yesterday. (March 30)

“However, in line with our practice in the past when we have received a large number of submissions describing personal experiences (such as our inquiries into the roll out of ESA and the Pensions Bill) we have taken the decision that not all of the personal submissions will be…

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