Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made changes to the Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm's-Length Bodies since July 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Approvals Process for creating new Arm's-Length Bodies (ALBs) has not changed since July 2024. Approval for setting up a new ALB must be sought formally from Cabinet Office ministers and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury before any decision about any new ALB is made. It is government policy that arm’s length bodies should only be set up as a last resort, when there is no viable alternative. New bodies are also being considered under the same principles as the wider ALB review, as announced on 6 April 2025.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made with the establishment of a National School for Government; and when they plan to launch it.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The creation of the National School for Government and Public Services was announced by Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones on 20 January 2026. The purpose of the school is to support ambitions for a world-class, professional Civil Service. It is scheduled to be launched later this year.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the final outturn cost was of the refurbishment of the No9 media room including VAT.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The payment appears in the January transparency publications for Cabinet Office expenditure over £25,000
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Capita pensions management contract requires a streamlined process for emails from claimants to go directly to the relevant case, rather than having to be processed by a separate team.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Capita, the pension scheme administrator, provides a dedicated 'Contact Us' facility within the member portal, which utilises some automated sifting to categorise and direct inquiries. This process allows for both automated allocation and targeted manual review to ensure that correspondence is accurately routed to the appropriate specialist teams for resolution.
To further streamline the member experience, Capita is currently rolling out enhanced online tracking functionality. This will allow members to view the real-time progress of their retirement cases directly, reducing the requirement for manual correspondence and providing a more transparent, self-service digital journey. This functionality is in the process of being rolled out to members.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2025 to Question 77413 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, how many civil service pension accounts have unresolved cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) requests.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) 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 to ensure members receive the support they deserve. While the immediate focus remains on stabilising the service through this intensive recovery plan, we are committed to ensuring all 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.
As of 6 March 2026, there were 2,286 open case requests regarding Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) quotes and actions on civil service pension member accounts. This includes recent CETV applications, and as such, there will always be a number of outstanding CETV cases at any given time.
The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update (2 March 2026) is available at this weblink: (latest update 16 March): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-16-march-2026
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer written question 110026, submitted on 2 February 2026.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A response has been issued here.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his speech of 20 January 2026, entitled Move fast. Fix things, what the grade and definition is of a top senior civil servant; and who will undertake the assessments that indicators have been met.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The delivery objectives of all Senior Civil Servants should be linked to the objectives of the department and minister they serve. Their performance against these objectives is assessed by their line manager.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the salary is of the (a) former and (b) new Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Salary details for the former Cabinet Secretary as at 11 November 2025 are available here. Details for the new Cabinet Secretary will be published at a later date.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the outgoing Cabinet Secretary was on a legacy Permanent Secretary contract.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Permanent Secretary model contract sets out the contractual details for all Permanent Secretaries including the Cabinet Secretary. A copy of the model contract has been placed in the House Library.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to UIN 116915, what the most recent data for outstanding backlog Civil Service Pension cases his department has been informed of by Capita.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
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.
The Cabinet Office confirms that the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) administrator inherited 86,000 cases from the previous provider. Significant progress has been made in clearing the most urgent components of this inherited backlog, supported by an established recovery plan.
Key achievements as of 13 March 2026:
The inherited backlog of 15,000 unread emails was fully addressed by the end of February 2026.
Of the 8,063 inherited retirement lump sum cases, 6,871 payments have been processed, ensuring all inherited lump sums are paid where full information has been received.
For urgent cases, outstanding workable cases have been significantly reduced, returning to or nearing normalised work in progress levels.
All February and March back office delivery promises are on track due to the deployment of additional CO and Capita surge resource.
The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update (2 March 2026) is available at this weblink: (latest update 16 March): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-16-march-2026