Anyone looked into this issue ? Got Any stats. or info on scale of use of withholdings 'allegedly' harmful medical evidence from claimants and reps ? I have come across a couple of cases of misuse of this procedure. I am thinking of exploring the general issue here, but has anyone already done this ?
I am aware of 3 commissioners decisions which are very sensible but the DM Guidance Manual ignores these and all the issues they raise. It would appear that a literal reading of the regs and the DM Guidance (without reference to the case law)could lead to DWP and tribunals withholding evidence from claimants and reps when the same info could be freely available to the patient under the Data Protection Act.

I understand fully the reasons for not disclosing medical information to a client because the client is unaware or has not been told that fact by their own medical practitioners.
But to withhold evidence from a rep must be a breach of the rules of natural justice.

While stooging around the Toolbox I came across the Benchbook, which is the official guidance for Tribunals. There's quite a careful discussion of this under the heading "harmful medical evidence". It certainly seems to show that Tribunals should be careful about accepting what the Dept thinks about this and raises the Human Rights issue. Interestingly it suggests that the probelm is likely to be rare. Most people know already, in fact. It's also quite good on what actually is harmful evidence, eg not a note from the doctor saying (I've seen this)that this person is malingering. A Chairman had (correctly on the guidance) in this case ruled that whether or not the doctor had written it on the page for harmful evidence, it wasn't, or only to the relationship between doctor and patient!