Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Arfon Hywel Williams has again pressed the UK government on the future of the disability assessment centre in Bangor, whilst saying the whole pernicious benefit system needed confining to a museum.

 

Mr Williams was responding to the Secretary of State for Wales during Wales Questions in the House of Commons, who confirmed that government Ministers were looking at a ‘long-term site in north Wales’ to house the assessment centre.

Hywel Williams MP has been actively lobbying the Department for Work and Pensions to find a suitable, permanent site in Bangor to meet the specific needs of severely disabled and vulnerable local people after the centre was moved to Rhyl without any consultation.

Following pressure from Mr Williams, the centre is temporarily being housed at the Storiel Museum in Bangor.

Hywel Williams MP said: “The Personal Independence Payments (PIP) disability centre moved to Rhyl without any prior consultation. It is now back in my constituency in Bangor, housed temporality in a museum.

“The Secretary of State must surely appreciate the irony here; a museum is an apt location for the government’s pernicious disability benefits system in its entirety.

“But since disabled people have to put up with this system, It is absolutely vital that those living with a severe disability and all the complications this brings, are able to attend their appointments in as convenient and as local a location as possible.

“Capita, the private firm hired by government to carry out these assessments are contractually obliged to consider the specific needs of claimants when undertaking assessments. This includes locating assessment centres as convenient as possible to claimants.

“I don’t want to hear of vulnerable people with complex disabilities being told to travel for more than 90 minutes (over three hours return) just to be told they’re fit to work.

“I will be meeting the Minister of State to press for a suitable and permanent local site for the disability assessment centre, one which meets the specific needs of severely disabled and vulnerable claimants.”

Photo: Hywel Williams MP outside the former site of the DWP PIP Centre in Parc Menai, Bangor