"The minister for social security and disability has publicly attacked a book that exposed decades of “bureaucratic violence” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence was published last August* and describes how DWP ignored pleas to correct flaws within the social security system and covered up its role in the deaths of hundreds, and probably thousands, of deaths.
Sir Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, delayed the end of a hearing yesterday (Wednesday) – in which he and senior DWP civil servants had given evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee – so he could make a public statement about the book.
It is believed to be the first time DWP has commented publicly on The Department.
Sir Stephen had been taking part as a witness in the final evidence session of an inquiry into safeguarding vulnerable claimants, which he had launched himself in the last parliament when he was chairing the committee.
The committee’s new chair, Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, was about to end yesterday’s meeting when Sir Stephen asked her: “Can I make one further point?”
He began by praising the work of the book’s author, John Pring, editor of Disability News Service (DNS).
He said he had read the book and that Pring was “entitled to a good deal of credit for drawing attention to these things over a long period through his work on the Disability News Service”.
Sir Stephen pointed out that all 650 MPs had been sent a copy of the book, thanks to a crowdfunding action last autumn by disabled activists.
He said he found the book “interesting” and praised its “meticulous accounts of 13 deaths”, adding: “There’s absolutely no doubt that the book highlights serious mistakes made in the department.”
He also said that it provided “a very important contribution to this whole debate”.
But he then claimed that The Department “doesn’t produce any evidence of the conspiracy which is implied by the ‘violent government bureaucracy’ point”.
Sir Stephen pointed out that he was a minister in the Department of Social Security (DSS) – DWP’s predecessor – 27 years ago and that this was now his fifth ministerial “stint” in the department.
He said: “I was a shadow for five years, I’ve chaired this committee for four years, and I’ve never seen anything that makes me think there’s a conspiracy going on in the department.”
He said there were “certainly” mistakes made by DWP and – when it comes to hiding evidence – there was “a very strong case for us being much more open in a lot of these areas than has been the case in the past”.
But he argued that any such cover-ups were due to the actions of ministers, and not DWP civil servants.
He said that “it wasn’t the department that hid it, ministers chose that things ought not to be open”.
He added: “The trouble is, if you think it’s a conspiracy, that sort of means you don’t have to bother with the hard graft of working out how to solve these problems, in the way the committee now is and the department is as well.
“We do need that hard work. The committee, the department, we need between us to work out how to stop the mistakes that John Pring is absolutely right to draw attention to.
“But I kind of want to say that I think his work has been important and valuable, but I just don’t think it’s right or helpful to give the impression that there’s some huge conspiracy going on here, because there just isn’t.”
Next week, DNS will publish a detailed rebuttal of Sir Stephen’s claims.
Pring said: “This will show clearly, with irrefutable evidence, how the countless deaths of disabled claimants, particularly over the last 15 years, were not solely due to the actions of DSS and DWP ministers in successive governments, but were largely the result of the ‘slow bureaucratic violence’ that has developed within this toxic government department over the last 30 years.
“I should also point out that the word ‘conspiracy’ is not used in my book, apart from a fleeting reference to the conspiracy theories of David Icke.
“The case laid out in The Department is about how a toxic culture within a government bureaucracy can slowly build over many years and eventually have significant, shocking, and violent consequences.
“DNS will point to some of the evidence for that case next week and show exactly why Sir Stephen is wrong.”
*The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, John Pring’s book on the years of deaths linked to DWP, is published by Pluto Press": https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/minister-hijacks-commons-inquiry-to-defend-dwp-as-he-attacks-book-that-exposed-its-violence/
Patronising, disingenuous gaslighting b**tard!