Business of the House

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

Absolutely. Fly-tipping and littering are a blight on many of our communities, which is why I am proud that this Government are finally acting by giving councils and the police the powers they need to seize and crush many of these vehicles. My hon. Friend will know that I recently took part in a vehicle-crushing exercise with my local police, and I recommend it to others.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

My constituent applied to have his case against his pension provider considered by the ombudsman, and he contacted me because of the delay in receiving a determination. I, in turn, wrote to the ombudsman, who advised that my constituent was in the correct place in the queue and would be allocated to an adjudicator in September 2025. My constituent made his original application in May 2020. I am sure the Leader of the House would agree that this timescale is not acceptable, so will she find time for a debate to shine a light on why such inefficiency and poor response to constituents is happening?

[Lucy Powell]

I am really sorry to hear about this case. My hon. Friend is right that five years is unacceptably slow. The performance of the Pensions Ombudsman has been raised with me in previous business questions, and I am happy to take this up directly for her. She is right that such delays are just not acceptable.