Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the economic impact of the off-payroll working rules (IR35) on the (a) information technology, (b) engineering, (c) the construction, (d) financial services, (e) defence and aerospace, (f) energy, (g) telecommunications, (h) life sciences (i) manufacturing, (j) professional services (k) media and creative industries, and (l) transport sectors since the extension of those rules to the private sector in April 2021.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
I refer the Hon. Member to the written answer given to the Hon. Member for Fylde on 24 June 2026: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has held discussions with social media companies on content promoting anabolic steroid use and extreme body image ideals to young men.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department has not held discussions with social media companies on content promoting anabolic steroid use and extreme body image ideals to young men.
However, in November 2025, the Department launched England’s first ever Men’s Health Strategy which sets out a bold vision to improve the health and wellbeing of all men and boys. The strategy recognises the role that the media plays in shaping how men interpret health information and commits to identify ways to build media literacy skills in men to help them critically assess health information and protect against misinformation that harms health.
More broadly, under the Online Safety Act, providers must take proportionate steps to reduce the risk of their services being used to facilitate illegal activity, including the unlawful supply of controlled drugs such as anabolic steroids.
The Government also supports clean competition in sport. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport supports UK Anti-Doping and UK Sport in their efforts to protect clean sport and educate athletes on the risks of performance-enhancing drugs.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms are used by his Department to monitor the prevalence of anabolic steroid and other image and performance enhancing drug use in England.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department collects data, through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), on the number of people in structured substance misuse treatment, including those reporting a problem with anabolic steroids and other image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. However, people seeking help solely for steroid misuse, and not for alcohol or other drug misuse, may not be in structured treatment, depending on local commissioning arrangements, and would therefore not be captured in NDTMS. Where steroid misuse is linked to broader substance misuse, it would be recorded in NDTMS. As a result, NDTMS does not provide data on the prevalence of steroid or IPED use.
Data on anabolic steroid use is collected through the Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics. The latest release provides an overview of the extent of, and trends in, illicit drug use in the year ending March 2025, and is available at the following link:
Anabolic steroid use is not recognised as a distinct diagnostic category in current classification systems, which limits health services’ ability to identify, record, and monitor cases in hospital data. Although some diagnostic codes relating to steroid misuse do exist, they are broad and do not reliably capture anabolic steroid use or its associated complications. As a result, data on hospital admissions linked to anabolic steroid use and related complications is not held.
Enforcement against the illegal online sale of anabolic steroids is a matter for the Home Office under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care work closely with the Home Office to tackle the harms that all illicit drugs cause.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department maintains data on the number of hospital admissions linked to anabolic steroid use and related complications.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department collects data, through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), on the number of people in structured substance misuse treatment, including those reporting a problem with anabolic steroids and other image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. However, people seeking help solely for steroid misuse, and not for alcohol or other drug misuse, may not be in structured treatment, depending on local commissioning arrangements, and would therefore not be captured in NDTMS. Where steroid misuse is linked to broader substance misuse, it would be recorded in NDTMS. As a result, NDTMS does not provide data on the prevalence of steroid or IPED use.
Data on anabolic steroid use is collected through the Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics. The latest release provides an overview of the extent of, and trends in, illicit drug use in the year ending March 2025, and is available at the following link:
Anabolic steroid use is not recognised as a distinct diagnostic category in current classification systems, which limits health services’ ability to identify, record, and monitor cases in hospital data. Although some diagnostic codes relating to steroid misuse do exist, they are broad and do not reliably capture anabolic steroid use or its associated complications. As a result, data on hospital admissions linked to anabolic steroid use and related complications is not held.
Enforcement against the illegal online sale of anabolic steroids is a matter for the Home Office under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care work closely with the Home Office to tackle the harms that all illicit drugs cause.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on enforcement against the illegal online sale of anabolic steroids.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department collects data, through the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), on the number of people in structured substance misuse treatment, including those reporting a problem with anabolic steroids and other image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. However, people seeking help solely for steroid misuse, and not for alcohol or other drug misuse, may not be in structured treatment, depending on local commissioning arrangements, and would therefore not be captured in NDTMS. Where steroid misuse is linked to broader substance misuse, it would be recorded in NDTMS. As a result, NDTMS does not provide data on the prevalence of steroid or IPED use.
Data on anabolic steroid use is collected through the Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics. The latest release provides an overview of the extent of, and trends in, illicit drug use in the year ending March 2025, and is available at the following link:
Anabolic steroid use is not recognised as a distinct diagnostic category in current classification systems, which limits health services’ ability to identify, record, and monitor cases in hospital data. Although some diagnostic codes relating to steroid misuse do exist, they are broad and do not reliably capture anabolic steroid use or its associated complications. As a result, data on hospital admissions linked to anabolic steroid use and related complications is not held.
Enforcement against the illegal online sale of anabolic steroids is a matter for the Home Office under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care work closely with the Home Office to tackle the harms that all illicit drugs cause.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of youth unemployment.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Youth Unemployment has been rising for four years. Level of NEETS is up 250k from 2021 – 2024.
In no year since the crash have Youth Employment rates reached pre-crash levels. That's why we have introduced the Youth Guarantee and why I commissioned Alan Millburn to write his report.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to fulfil its oversight responsibilities for NHS Continuing Healthcare as set out in paragraph 23 of the National Framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
NHS England operates an assurance regime to promote accurate assessment, equal access, standardisation, and consistency within NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC). This involves regional assurance meetings every two months, with a focus on reducing unwarranted variation in CHC. It will continue working with local systems to ensure appropriate application of the National Framework for CHC.
The NHS Performance and Assessment Framework for 2026/27 includes a standard for integrated care boards to monitor the percentage of Standard CHC referrals completed within 28 days.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of administrative delays within the Civil Service Pension Scheme on scheme members; and what steps he is taking to improve (a) processing times for pension applications, (b) benefit calculations, and (c) member correspondence.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home 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 falling short of expected standards 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, except for where full and complete documentation required to progress was not available and had been requested from the member or other third party. The same position was reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March.
Capita were instructed to prioritise and clear the most urgent cases such as Death in Service and Ill-Health during February and March. While Capita previously assured us that performance standards for Death in Service and Ill-Health were being met by mid-March, recent information continues to demonstrate unacceptable delays in some ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases. We have urgently escalated this to Capita, who are actively investigating the underlying data and reasons for these continued delays.
Capita has made lump sum payments to 14,880 members, the majority of whom have retired but are not yet receiving their pension.
The Cabinet Office has mandated Capita that they must restore service levels by the end of June 2026. This includes ensuring benefits for members are calculated and paid completely and accurately and associated full correspondence for members is provided in a timely manner. We are using every commercial lever at our disposal, including withholding payments for deliverables that have not been met. We also reserve the right to take further formal action to ensure the service returns to the required standards.
It should be noted that once normal service resumes, there is a necessary administrative process that must be completed: members must first receive their pension quotes, formally accept them, and then be processed into the payroll system. Due to the time required for these sequential steps, the first actual payments are expected to commence around late August or September.
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. The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.
Interest will be paid on delayed benefits to avoid financial loss by members. In addition, the existing statutory complaints process evaluates claims for financial losses, as well as distress and inconvenience caused, on a case-by-case basis to determine whether compensation is due. This ensures that any retiree who provides evidence of extra costs, such as bank penalties or interest charges caused by the delay, is fairly assessed. This process is run in accordance with the standards set by the Pensions Ombudsman.
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: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of shoplifting.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The level of shop theft remains unacceptable. But our action to restore neighbourhood policing is making a difference – including delivering more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles since March 2025.
There are signs the tide is turning, with a small fall in shop theft offences by 1% in the year ending December 2025 compared with the previous year. This is compared with increases of nearly 30% in the period before the election.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the average time taken by Integrated Care Boards to complete NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility assessments, including for patients receiving end-of-life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
NHS England publishes data on NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC) on a quarterly basis. This includes the number and proportion of CHC referrals and eligibility decisions made for both the Standard and Fast Track CHC referral pathway. Fast Track CHC is provided for those individuals with a rapidly deteriorating condition, which may be entering a terminal phase. The data includes the number and proportion of referrals and eligibility decisions for Standard CHC made within 28 days of referral. It does not include average time taken for integrated care boards to complete CHC assessments. The latest published CHC and FNC data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-chc-fnc/