FCDO Services: Ministerial Targets 2025-26
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Catherine West)
FCDO Services operates as a trading fund of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I have set the following performance targets for 2025-26:
An in-year surplus before interest, tax and dividend;
Achievement of the return on capital employed of at least 6.5% (weighted average);
A productivity ratio of at least 82%, measuring actual billable hours versus available billable hours;
An in-year customer satisfaction rating average of at least 82;
An average civil service people survey score for “employee engagement” of at least 61%; and
An average civil service people survey score for “my manager” of at least 65%.
FCDO Services will report to Parliament on its success against these targets through its annual report and accounts for 2025-26.
FCDO Services is an Executive agency and trading fund of the FCDO. It provides a range of integrated, secure services worldwide to the FCDO and other UK Government Departments, supporting the delivery of Government agendas. Services include protective security, estates and construction, cloud computing, communications and monitoring, logistics, translation and interpreting. This is combined with a portfolio of global maintenance work. FCDO Services also manages the UK National Authority for Counter Eavesdropping, helping protect UK assets from physical, electronic and cyber-attack.
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Cervical Screening: Self-sampling
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)
I would like to inform the House that I have accepted the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation to allow screening providers to offer self-sampling kits to under-screened individuals in the NHS cervical screening programme in England.
The NHS cervical screening programme in England provides all women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 with the opportunity to be screened routinely to detect HPV infection or cervical abnormalities at an early, more treatable stage. The aim of the programme is to reduce the number of women who develop invasive cervical cancer and reduce the number who die from it.
Cervical screening does not test for cancer; it is a step before that helps to detect the risk of developing cervical cancer. This is because, since December 2019, the primary screen in the NHS cervical screening programme has been a test to detect high-risk HPV—hrHPV—which causes nearly all cervix cancers. A negative screen for hrHPV means that the chances of developing a cancer within five years are very small, as it can take around 10 years or more from the time hrHPV is caught to developing cervical cancer.
Research suggests that barriers to cervical screening attendance may include inaccessibility of appointments, anxiety and fear of discomfort and embarrassment, previous negative experiences of screening, cultural reasons, confidentiality concerns, and practical barriers such as time constraints and lack of transport or childcare. Currently, around three in 10 of the eligible population do not attend their cervical screening appointments. The change to the programme will allow service providers to offer these women a self-sample if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation. A self-sample that returns an hrHPV positive result will still require a clinical test to confirm the finding. However, trial evidence suggests that self-sampling will increase the numbers engaging with the screening programme.
It is important to note that, at this stage, the self-sample offer is being provided only to “under-screened” women —an under-screened individual is someone who is overdue for their routine cervical screening appointment by at least six months or has never attended. The reason that the offer is restricted to this group is because there is uncertainty about whether self-sampling is as good as clinician-taken sampling for those who regularly attend screening.
Self-sampling will help detect hrHPV, prevent cancer and save lives in those who currently do not access clinician-led screening. However, for those attending clinician testing, a shift to self-sampling might result in a programme that is not yet proven to be of equal efficacy. Further studies to consider whether self-sampling could be used across the whole population are being organised.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the UK National Screening Committee for continuing to provide invaluable evidence-based expert advice on the introduction of new screening programmes and modifications to existing ones, and especially on achieving the right balance between benefit versus harms.
I would also like to pay tribute to and thank all those who work to deliver high-quality and safe screening across the country, and to encourage all those who are eligible for cervical screening to take up the offer of this lifesaving test.
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Local Leadership Structure
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Minister for Local Government and English Devolution (Jim McMahon)
Today, I will update Parliament on the Government’s ambitious plans to introduce legislation which will simplify governance arrangements for local authorities in England and to ensure local communities have the right mechanisms to engage with their council.
In the English Devolution White Paper, the Government committed to bring in consistent and accountable structures across local government by considering which governance models available to local authorities will best support their decision making.
At present there is a complex and opaque system which allows councils to operate one of three governance models: cabinet arrangements with a directly elected council mayor, leader and cabinet, or the committee system. As a result, councils are left with a complicated governance system. This can be confusing to the taxpayer, particularly in the case of the committee system, which can be unclear, duplicative, and wasteful, leading to slower, less efficient decision making.
The Government plan to legislate to abolish the committee system, requiring those councils currently operating this model to transition to the leader and cabinet model (which the vast majority of councils in England already operate). This will simplify the governance system and ensure all councils operate an executive form of governance, providing clarity on responsibility and accountability, and improving efficiency in decision making. This change will provide clearer, more easily understood structures at a local level, improving efficiency and preventing authorities from wasting taxpayer funds on needless changes to systems of governance. The law already allows for and requires overview and scrutiny arrangements to be in place.
The Government recognise there are several directly elected local council mayors currently in place, and we propose to accept the continuation of these 13 legacy directly elected council mayors, while introducing measures to ensure a more consistent approach by not facilitating the creation of new ones. This would also include any councils undergoing local government reorganisation now or the future, where any new unitary would be required to operate on the leader and cabinet model of governance, regardless of whether any constituent part currently has a legacy directly elected council mayor.
There are pre-existing routes for those councils with legacy directly elected local mayors to adopt the leader and cabinet model, depending on the individual circumstances in each area, where they wish to do so.
This will avoid the potential confusion caused by the establishment of new regional mayors for strategic authorities and for councils. Directly elected regional mayors continue to be a prerequisite for significant devolution of powers and funding: it is at this strategic level that the single focal point of leadership for the area and direct electoral accountability is considered to work best. Our ambitious plans for local government reorganisation will build the foundations of better local governance, enabling decisions to be taken more easily at the most effective level of government. Strategic regional mayors will be empowered to drive local growth in the long term, with local authorities tackling big challenges in service delivery lead by a leader and their cabinet.
Taken with our commitment to support frontline councillors to lead positive change in their communities we believe this delivers the right powers in the right places.
Ahead of introducing primary legislation, I intend to make regulations to pause any change processes between governance models, in order to allow time for Parliament to consider the Government’s proposed measures. These regulations will extend the period in which a council must call a referendum to determine if the electorate want to change their council’s governance structure following receipt of a petition.
The regulations will also move the date on which an inaugural election is held following a council resolution or a referendum in favour of a directly elected mayor from May 2026 to May 2027. These changes will prevent taxpayers’ money from being unduly wasted on administrative processes which will ultimately bring no benefit or change, while the future of governance options is being considered by Parliament. We will therefore freeze any changes to local governance structures, allowing Parliament time to consider the measures outlined above and prevent the needless waste of valuable taxpayers’ pounds.
It is important that the Government set out the intended direction clearly. The regulations are of particular relevance to the Plymouth referendum due to be held on 17 July to determine whether to adopt mayoral governance for the council. Should the vote favour introducing a mayor, the inaugural mayoral election would move from May 2026 to May 2027. The extension of this period will allow Parliament time to consider the legislation. If Parliament agrees to the proposed measures being brought forward in primary legislation, the inaugural mayoral election would not take place and the council would continue to operate leader and cabinet governance as the common standard for all councils going forward, with the exception of the legacy directly elected council mayors referred to earlier.
We acknowledge that the path to reform is not without its challenges which some local authorities will need to navigate to ensure successful implementation. Transition management will be crucial, requiring careful planning and execution to ensure a smooth shift from the committee system to the new governance structures, including managing changes in leadership dynamics and administrative processes.
By introducing streamlined, consistent and accountable governance structures, we are paving the way for a more efficient, transparent, and responsive local government system. This will empower local leaders to make the right decisions for their communities, and work with Government to grow an inclusive economy, reform public services, and secure better outcomes for working people.
Every place will benefit from our agenda to push power out of Whitehall and into the hands of local leaders. People will see it in more regular bus services, more affordable housing, or the simple fact of having a local champion with regional influence or a frontline councillor championing their neighbourhoods with the tools they need to get the job done. Taken together these measures will simplify local government and support democratic accountability for local people.
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Victim Impact Statements
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Alex Davies-Jones)
I am pleased to announce that the Government have commenced another victim-related measure in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024.
Tomorrow, we will commence Section 21 of the Act, which will bring arrangements for victims of certain offenders detained under the Mental Health Act more closely in line with those for victims of offenders detained in prison whose release conditions are determined by the Parole Board. This has been called for by the Victims’ Commissioner, Baroness Newlove, for some time and will make a real difference to the experience of victims and their families in these processes.
Previously, victims engaging with the victim contact scheme were able to provide their views on discharge conditions for offenders to the mental health tribunal, but were not able to make a statement explaining to the decision makers the impact that the crime had on them—a victim impact statement. Victims are able to give such explanations to the Parole Board through a victim personal statement. Through the commencement of this measure, victims will be able to make a victim impact statement to the first-tier tribunal (mental health) in England, and the mental health review tribunal for Wales, where they are considering discharge of an offender. The tribunal can consider the victim impact statement as part of its decision on what discharge conditions to impose on the offender, but must not consider it for any other purpose.
This measure also requires that, where a tribunal hearing is due to take place and a victim applies to attend that hearing to read their statement, the tribunal should grant the application unless there are good reasons not to. Under the victim contact scheme, victims will have a victim liaison officer, who will inform them of the entitlement, and support them in making a victim impact statement, if they wish to do so. The victim liaison officer will support the victim to consider if they want to read it aloud to the tribunal or have their victim liaison officer do so on their behalf. They will also attend the hearing with them to provide support on the day.
This measure brings victims’ entitlements more in line with those of victims whose offenders are in the prison system, and it is an important way for victims and their families to have a voice in the process, regardless of where the offender is detained.
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Child Maintenance Payments
(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Andrew Western)
My noble Friend the Minister of State (Minister for Lords), Baroness Sherlock OBE, has made the following written statement:
I am pleased to inform the House that yesterday, the Government published their response to the “Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments” consultation. Releasing the response shows the Government’s commitment to reducing the number of children growing up in poverty, which holds back too many children, limiting their future prospects and holding back this country’s potential. This consultation was launched by the previous Government and extended by this Government to give as many people as possible the chance to respond.
The Government are delivering on our plan for change, and are reforming the Child Maintenance Service to help ensure that more children get the money they deserve. This consultation contains proposals that are part of the action we are taking that will lift more children out of poverty and support the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
The consultation received over 2,700 public responses, and engagement from 28 stakeholder organisations across the UK. Additionally, we commissioned research with current CMS customers who use the direct pay service to help us quantify the impacts of the reforms and provide in-depth insight.
There will be two clear options for parents following the planned reforms. One is to make a family-based arrangement. We will provide parents with enhanced support to make and maintain these, and we are working to improve our communications to support parents in understanding the options that are available to them. Our ambition is that anyone with a stable and compliant direct pay arrangement should find this option meets their needs.
Of course, family-based arrangements are not appropriate for all separated parents, and where that is the case, or where people prefer to be part of the statutory system, it will still be available. The CMS will operate a single service, based on the current collect-and-pay model, in which it will manage all payments, with an improved ability to identify and act on non-compliance.
As part of these reforms, we will halve the fees for those using the CMS, while maintaining a 20% fee for non-resident parents who refuse to pay up on time and in full. Parents currently in the direct pay system will have the choice of keeping their CMS case, which will be moved to the new, improved service, giving them the peace of mind that maintenance will be paid and any problems will be followed up, in return for a small fee—or have improved support to make and maintain a family-based arrangement.
We plan to progress with these proposals and believe that they will address the fundamental issues with direct pay. This change will prevent parents getting stuck in ineffective arrangements, in which no, reduced or erratic payments go to children. We know from research with direct pay customers that only six in 10 receiving parents in direct pay report getting all the child maintenance that they are owed, and only four in 10 say that they always receive it on time. Removing direct pay will mean we can tackle this hidden non-compliance and get money flowing to children in these cases.
To have the best impact on child poverty, we need to ensure that more children are in effective arrangements, which we envisage these changes helping with. We estimate that this change could result in around 20,000 fewer children in poverty, on the “relative low income after housing costs” measure. To further support children receiving maintenance payments, a commitment was made to position child maintenance deductions higher up the universal credit deductions priority order as part of the fair repayment rate. The repositioning gives greater protection, ensuring that child maintenance is paid in cases where the deductions cap is reached.
The removal of direct pay will also represent a significant improvement to victims and survivors of domestic abuse using the CMS, by reducing contact with the other parent, and reducing the paying parent’s ability to financially control the receiving parent by paying too little or too late, as they currently can under direct pay.
I am committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of domestic abuse get the help and support that they need to use the CMS safely, and have outlined in the consultation response the work that the Department is undertaking to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse to use the service safely.
The reforms announced yesterday are just the first step in our plan to reform the Child Maintenance Service. Alongside action to modernise the service, increase ease of access, streamline enforcement, and better support victims and survivors of domestic abuse, the Government are undertaking a fundamental review of the child maintenance calculation.
I believe that the changes outlined in the Government’s response will help us to achieve a CMS that is fair, trustworthy and more accessible to parents, particularly those who are vulnerable. It will be better able to tackle non-compliance head-on by quickly identifying and tackling missed payments and, most importantly, it will lift more children out of poverty.
The changes to remove direct pay and reform the collection fee structure will require changes to legislation, which will be dependent on parliamentary approval. Subject to securing parliamentary time to make the necessary changes in legislation, we aim to implement them in 2027-28.
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