Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of recent legislation on protest; and when she expects to publish the review led by Lord Macdonald.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government reviews public order legislation to ensure that it strikes the right balance between safeguarding the right to peaceful protest and enabling the police to maintain public order and keep communities safe.
On 18 June we published post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023, which provides a preliminary assessment of the Act and an objective overview of the use of its provisions: Public Order Act 2023: post-legislative scrutiny - GOV.UK.
Lord Macdonald submitted the report of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation to the Home Secretary on 29 May. The Government intends to publish the report alongside the Government’s response shortly.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what immediate action he will take to ensure members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme receive their pensions without having to wait for further investigations and report.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and the Government continues to hold Capita to account for delivery of the service, applying all contractual levers. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones. We intend to seek to recover all the Government’s delay-related costs, and that Capita bear the costs of their failure, not the taxpayer.
Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention has been taken; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense, to determine the effectiveness of these measures and test the validity and deliverability of Capita’s formal contract Rectification Plan. An update on this will be provided to Parliament in October.
Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
The Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the CSPS, and to improve performance, the Cabinet Office have set up daily performance meetings with Capita to ensure that they are prioritising the most vulnerable and urgent cases alongside administering the wider pensions scheme. While Capita reported meeting its 1st September milestone on workable stock across priority operational areas, overall performance remains unacceptable and does not constitute full service recovery.
To specifically prioritise cases where members are facing hardship, the Department has taken the following direct steps:
Health Circumstances: All outstanding ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases have been placed under strict, individual 'hypercare' tracking. We have deployed a cross-government surge team of over 140 civil servants, alongside experts from the Government Actuary’s Department, to bypass standard queues and directly clear the oldest and most complex cases.
Financial Hardship: To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, including those who have left under the compensation scheme, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans of £5,000 and up to £20,000 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.
Other Exceptional Circumstances: These are considered for prioritisation and ‘hypercare’ tracking on a case-by-case basis.
We have also established dedicated virtual surgeries for MPs and caseworkers to escalate urgent and exceptional cases directly with a Capita caseworker.
The CSPS is implementing a temporary process to pay interest on benefits paid more than one month after a member’s retirement date. This applies for those who receive retirement payments after 1 December 2025, and interest will be calculated at the Bank of England base rate plus 1%. Capita will automatically calculate the interest owed, there is no need for members to apply.
Regular updates on the work to recover the service, continue to be posted on the Civil Service Pensions member portal and on GOV.UK.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the recovery plan for Civil Servants Pension Scheme.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and the Government continues to hold Capita to account for delivery of the service, applying all contractual levers. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones. We intend to seek to recover all the Government’s delay-related costs, and that Capita bear the costs of their failure, not the taxpayer.
Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention has been taken; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense, to determine the effectiveness of these measures and test the validity and deliverability of Capita’s formal contract Rectification Plan. An update on this will be provided to Parliament in October.
Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
The Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the CSPS, and to improve performance, the Cabinet Office have set up daily performance meetings with Capita to ensure that they are prioritising the most vulnerable and urgent cases alongside administering the wider pensions scheme. While Capita reported meeting its 1st September milestone on workable stock across priority operational areas, overall performance remains unacceptable and does not constitute full service recovery.
To specifically prioritise cases where members are facing hardship, the Department has taken the following direct steps:
Health Circumstances: All outstanding ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases have been placed under strict, individual 'hypercare' tracking. We have deployed a cross-government surge team of over 140 civil servants, alongside experts from the Government Actuary’s Department, to bypass standard queues and directly clear the oldest and most complex cases.
Financial Hardship: To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, including those who have left under the compensation scheme, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans of £5,000 and up to £20,000 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.
Other Exceptional Circumstances: These are considered for prioritisation and ‘hypercare’ tracking on a case-by-case basis.
We have also established dedicated virtual surgeries for MPs and caseworkers to escalate urgent and exceptional cases directly with a Capita caseworker.
The CSPS is implementing a temporary process to pay interest on benefits paid more than one month after a member’s retirement date. This applies for those who receive retirement payments after 1 December 2025, and interest will be calculated at the Bank of England base rate plus 1%. Capita will automatically calculate the interest owed, there is no need for members to apply.
Regular updates on the work to recover the service, continue to be posted on the Civil Service Pensions member portal and on GOV.UK.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will commit to an urgent, accessible hardship escalation process for affected members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, including interim payments and loans where appropriate, with clear ownership and timescales.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and the Government continues to hold Capita to account for delivery of the service, applying all contractual levers. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones. We intend to seek to recover all the Government’s delay-related costs, and that Capita bear the costs of their failure, not the taxpayer.
Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention has been taken; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense, to determine the effectiveness of these measures and test the validity and deliverability of Capita’s formal contract Rectification Plan. An update on this will be provided to Parliament in October.
Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
The Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the CSPS, and to improve performance, the Cabinet Office have set up daily performance meetings with Capita to ensure that they are prioritising the most vulnerable and urgent cases alongside administering the wider pensions scheme. While Capita reported meeting its 1st September milestone on workable stock across priority operational areas, overall performance remains unacceptable and does not constitute full service recovery.
To specifically prioritise cases where members are facing hardship, the Department has taken the following direct steps:
Health Circumstances: All outstanding ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases have been placed under strict, individual 'hypercare' tracking. We have deployed a cross-government surge team of over 140 civil servants, alongside experts from the Government Actuary’s Department, to bypass standard queues and directly clear the oldest and most complex cases.
Financial Hardship: To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, including those who have left under the compensation scheme, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans of £5,000 and up to £20,000 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.
Other Exceptional Circumstances: These are considered for prioritisation and ‘hypercare’ tracking on a case-by-case basis.
We have also established dedicated virtual surgeries for MPs and caseworkers to escalate urgent and exceptional cases directly with a Capita caseworker.
The CSPS is implementing a temporary process to pay interest on benefits paid more than one month after a member’s retirement date. This applies for those who receive retirement payments after 1 December 2025, and interest will be calculated at the Bank of England base rate plus 1%. Capita will automatically calculate the interest owed, there is no need for members to apply.
Regular updates on the work to recover the service, continue to be posted on the Civil Service Pensions member portal and on GOV.UK.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the contractual and financial measures imposed on Capita in relation to the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and the Government continues to hold Capita to account for delivery of the service, applying all contractual levers. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones. We intend to seek to recover all the Government’s delay-related costs, and that Capita bear the costs of their failure, not the taxpayer.
Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention has been taken; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense, to determine the effectiveness of these measures and test the validity and deliverability of Capita’s formal contract Rectification Plan. An update on this will be provided to Parliament in October.
Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
The Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the CSPS, and to improve performance, the Cabinet Office have set up daily performance meetings with Capita to ensure that they are prioritising the most vulnerable and urgent cases alongside administering the wider pensions scheme. While Capita reported meeting its 1st September milestone on workable stock across priority operational areas, overall performance remains unacceptable and does not constitute full service recovery.
To specifically prioritise cases where members are facing hardship, the Department has taken the following direct steps:
Health Circumstances: All outstanding ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases have been placed under strict, individual 'hypercare' tracking. We have deployed a cross-government surge team of over 140 civil servants, alongside experts from the Government Actuary’s Department, to bypass standard queues and directly clear the oldest and most complex cases.
Financial Hardship: To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, including those who have left under the compensation scheme, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans of £5,000 and up to £20,000 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.
Other Exceptional Circumstances: These are considered for prioritisation and ‘hypercare’ tracking on a case-by-case basis.
We have also established dedicated virtual surgeries for MPs and caseworkers to escalate urgent and exceptional cases directly with a Capita caseworker.
The CSPS is implementing a temporary process to pay interest on benefits paid more than one month after a member’s retirement date. This applies for those who receive retirement payments after 1 December 2025, and interest will be calculated at the Bank of England base rate plus 1%. Capita will automatically calculate the interest owed, there is no need for members to apply.
Regular updates on the work to recover the service, continue to be posted on the Civil Service Pensions member portal and on GOV.UK.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance NHS England has issued to NHS trusts on ensuring continuity of access to appropriately competent engineering personnel outside normal working hours where the knowledge or competence required to respond to failures of critical hospital infrastructure is held by only one, or a small number of, employees; and what guidance has been issued on mitigating any associated operational and business continuity risks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England supports organisations through technical guidance that sets out expectations for the safe management, competence, and resilience of healthcare engineering services. Relevant guidance includes:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HTM_00.pdf
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what alternative, proactive and binding measures he will put in place to help protect human rights in the context of the Modernising Corporate Reporting consultation.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Modernising Corporate Reporting (MCR) consultation proposes refocusing the Annual Report to provide financially material information to investors and creditors. Proposed changes in the consultation do not alter the legal framework protecting human rights. The Government expects all companies to respect human rights throughout their operations and supply chains, in line with the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct and the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when a decision is expected regarding phasing out cages for laying hens, following her department's consultation which closed on the 9th March 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently analysing the responses to the consultation, and a formal response is expected to be published this year.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on phasing out cages for laying hens.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently analysing the responses to the consultation, and a formal response is expected to be published this year.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the total amount of child maintenance arrears owed in inactive cases; and, in these cases, what funds have been recovered by the service in the last 5 years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested on all inactive cases is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.