Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to address the role of algorithmic recommendation systems in promoting harmful or addictive content, including gambling, to children.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Gambling Commission regulates gambling, including online gambling. Gambling operators advertising in the UK must comply with advertising codes, which ensure that gambling advertising is not targeted at children. When operators fall short, the ASA can take action or refer them to the Gambling Commission for possible enforcement action. We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders to further strengthen protections.

Keeping children safe online is a priority for this government. As outlined in the Online Safety Act, in scope social media companies and search services are required to protect children from harmful content. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers to use should services not comply with their duties. Our children's wellbeing consultation seeks views on how we can go further, including exploring if age-restrictions should be applied to addictive features, such as algorithms.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment she has made of trends in under-18 participation in gambling activities, including via online platforms and apps.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The 2025 Young People in Gambling Survey demonstrated that gambling activity by under-18s increased from 27% to 30% compared with the previous year. This was driven by a 3% increase in unregulated gambling, such as private betting between friends and family, to 18%.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that child protection frameworks keep pace with technological developments in digital platforms and online gambling.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Keeping children safe online is a priority for this government. We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders including social media platforms to further strengthen protections. As outlined in the Online Safety Act, in scope social media companies and search services are required to protect children from harmful content. Ofcom has robust enforcement powers to use should services not comply with their duties. Our children's wellbeing consultation seeks views on how we can go further, including exploring if age-restrictions should be applied to addictive features, such as algorithms.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the role of AI chatbots in promoting or directing children to illegal online gambling.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We take the issue of children being directed to illegal gambling sites very seriously.

AI chatbots covered by the Online Safety Act must protect all users from illegal content. We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure these rules keep pace with technology and will not hesitate to go further if there is evidence to do so.

More broadly, the Government is committed to tackling illegal gambling through the Illegal Gambling Taskforce. We will therefore consider examples of chatbots promoting illegal sites to children, in conjunction with other issues, when deciding on the best next steps to increase protections against illegal gambling.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department holds data relating to (a) average hold time when calling Capita customer services regarding Civil Service Pensions and (b) number of callers who end their calls while waiting on hold.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.

The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in receiving their pension quotes are unacceptable. I want to reassure you that this Government has taken firm action to help put things right as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. For priority cases, we have deployed additional resources and improved communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.

Existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been enhanced and strengthened to deliver improved performance and higher penalties for failure, including financial penalties. These have already applied in respect to Capita's performance with recent issues and delays in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Capita prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. The same position was reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March.

The Cabinet Office monitors the performance of the Civil Service Pension Scheme administrator, Capita, through regular service level reporting. This includes metrics relating to contact centre performance, such as average call wait times and call abandonment rates.

In the week commencing 20 March 2026, the average wait time was 2 minutes and 3 seconds, with 70% of calls answered in less than 30 seconds. Improvements are still to be made to ensure calls are answered as per the agreed contractual rate.

Senior representatives from Capita appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 26 March 2026 to provide evidence on the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. During this session, Capita committed to providing the Committee with specific data on recent call-handling performance and member experience.

Regarding the volume of calls disconnected after a conversation has commenced, referred to during the PAC hearing as 'calls dropped partway through', Capita has committed to providing this specific data to the Committee in writing.

Progress on the recovery plan and the latest available performance updates are also published regularly on:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to address the shortage of anaesthetists across the UK.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Next steps on delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to create 1,000 new specialty training posts over the next three years with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need will be set out in due course.

Alongside this, the Government will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan later this spring. It will set out a clear roadmap to improve working lives in the National Health Service, providing better treatment of staff, higher-quality training, and more fulfilling roles.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2026 to Question 101943 on Anaesthetics: Recruitment, what steps his Department has taken to increase anaesthetist training posts available to start in 2026.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Next steps on delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to create 1,000 new specialty training posts over the next three years with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need will be set out in due course.

Alongside this, the Government will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan later this spring. It will set out a clear roadmap to improve working lives in the National Health Service, providing better treatment of staff, higher-quality training, and more fulfilling roles.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that adequate levels of customer service are maintained by MyCSP during the transfer of the Civil Service Pension Scheme administration to Capita.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.

The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in receiving their pension quotes are unacceptable. I want to reassure you that this Government has taken firm action to help put things right as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. For priority cases, we have deployed additional resources and improved communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.

Existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been enhanced and strengthened to deliver improved performance and higher penalties for failure, including financial penalties. These have already applied in respect to Capita's performance with recent issues and delays in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

Capita prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. The same position was reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March.

Capita has made lump sum payments to 8,747 members, the majority of whom have retired but are not yet receiving their pension, and are on track to bring these members into regular pension payments by the end of April.

To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans typically up to £5,000 or £10,000 in exceptional cases to most recent retirees facing payment delays. This is alongside interim lump sum payments being made to provide immediate funds to retiring members. The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.

The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update is available at this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many starts there have been on each foundation apprenticeship standard since their launch in August 2025; and what assessment he made of the adequacy of that performance before announcing the expansion of foundation apprenticeships into hospitality and retail.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

In August 2025 we introduced foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, such as construction and health and social care, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills.

Foundation apprenticeships are designed to support those young people who want to gain a broad grounding in a sector before they commit to progress into a more specific or more advanced occupation.

As foundation apprenticeships are a new offer we understand providers and employers will need time to incorporate them into their businesses.

In addition, other apprenticeships continue to support young people to gain the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for a specific occupation.

Apprenticeship and foundation apprenticeship starts are published here: Apprenticeships, Academic year 2025/26 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. The latest published data shows that there have been 110 foundation apprenticeship starts so far this academic year (Aug 2025 - Jan 2026).

To create more opportunities for young people at the start of their careers, we are expanding foundation apprenticeships into hospitality and retail from April 2026. These sectors traditionally employ large numbers of young people and offer strong entry points into sustained employment with clear progression routes across England.

They will have employer payments of up to £2,000 employer payment to support with the additional costs of taking on and supporting a young person at the start of their career.

Literacy and the criminal justice system

MS Awareness Week 2026