A week in the life of a Shadow Minister

Monday

Monday starts with the familiar journey back to London after having spent recess in my constituency in Manchester. On the train, I’m busy preparing for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) questions session later. As a shadow Minister, I automatically have a chance to step in following a question that’s relevant to my job – but with so many competing priorities it’s difficult to pick just one, and we have to let the Speaker John Bercow’s office know by 12 noon.

The questions tabled include a barrage of disability issues – the sheer number demonstrates the depth of desperation and despair being felt across the country. Topics range from the ongoing problems with ATOS assessments to the effect of the bedroom tax on disabled people. Many had their houses adapted, for example to make room for a wheelchair or an accessible bathroom, and now they’ll be forced to move.

In the end we opt to quiz the Minister on delays to the new personal independence payment – official statistics released this month revealed that claims which used to take seven weeks are now taking upwards of six months. For disabled people and the terminally ill, this can be financially devastating.

Departmental question times are rarely the informed discussion and debate they should be, but today seems particularly bad – Iain Duncan Smith, Mike Penning and Esther McVey dodge practically every question posed to them. But with every project of the Department for Work and Pensions descending into a familiar pattern of incompetence and chaos, perhaps their reluctance to come clean shouldn’t be that surprising.

Tuesday

Late Monday night we heard that the Government has apparently suspended repeat assessments for Work Capability Assessments – yet another thing Ministers failed to mention that afternoon. Since its introduction in 2008, both the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and the behaviour of the private company Atos in carrying out assessments for the DWP has been highly controversial. The decision taken by Ministers to suspend reassessments will confirm widespread scepticism that the WCA is fit for purpose. We spend the first part of the morning trying to think of ways we can hold Ministers to account on this latest of errors.

We’re already well aware of the need for a root-and-branch reform of the Work Capability Assessment and later, we begin on a series of meetings we intend to hold on what shape this reform should take. In the evening, I drop in on a CAMRA-hosted event where the real ale is flowing!

Wednesday

It’s Wednesday and we’re still pushing for the Minister for Disabled People (Mike Penning) to answer our fears on the rumours that Atos has essentially walked off the job. Then into a meeting with the head of Motability (the charity that provides wheelchairs, scooters and specially adapted cars to disabled people) – which confirms our suspicions that changes to Personal Independence Payment criteria are going to have a massive effect on more than 400,000 disabled people’s lives.

That afternoon, I receive an early copy of the National Audit Office’s assessment of the Personal Independence Payment roll-out. It’s as we thought: a total mess. Beset by backlogs and delays, and leaving terminally ill patients (who have just weeks to live) floundering, the roll-out of PIP seems to be following the same disastrous model as Universal Credit did – no surprise given it’s another one of David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith’s pet projects.

Thursday

Today is the day of the War-On-Welfare debate – we ‘re debating a petition signed by over 100,000 people that calls for, among other things, a cumulative impact assessment of the government’s welfare reforms on sick and disabled people that Labour has also demanded.

I start by meeting supporters of the petition, before the debate begins shortly after 11.30am. There are powerful contributions from Labour MPs, and I’m proud to stand up to reinforce the concerns. But supporters of the petition are disappointed and angry when Minister Mike Penning refuses to budge.

Friday

Today it’s back to the constituency – I’m visiting my local Macmillan cancer centre, meeting parents of autistic children, and visiting Manor High, a special needs school in my constituency,which is involved in a programme to equip young people with the skills they need to manage their money properly.

It’s a full day at the end of a busy week, but a valuable chance to meet face-to-face with my constituents who have first-hand experience of the battles we’re fighting in Westminster.

Kate Green MP is Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People