Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect the NHS workforce plan to be published before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in Spring 2026. A specific publication date has not been agreed.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their workforce plan, due to be published in the spring, will cover resourcing of occupational health.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether voluntary exit or redundancy packages offered to civil servants are subject to a maximum cap; if so, whether that cap includes pension elements or pension-related costs; and what the current limits, eligibility criteria and conditions are for those packages across departments, including the Treasury.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The maximum cap for a Voluntary Exit (VE) or Voluntary Redundancy (VR) scheme relates to a salary cap of £149,820, mandatory for calculating higher value exit payments. There is no overall maximum cap, although exit offers should provide value for money. Pension top-ups are only mandatory for a VR scheme.
For both VE and VR, the minimum qualifying service is two years, although departments may exercise discretion.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Government departments, Executive Agencies and Arm’s-Length Bodies operate salary sacrifice arrangements; and what categories of benefit are provided under those arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office does not hold information about what salary sacrifice schemes government departments offer.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Government departments, Executive Agencies and Arm’s-Length Bodies operate optional remuneration arrangements; and what categories of benefit are provided under those arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As individual employers, decisions on remuneration are delegated to individual departments for grades below the Senior Civil Service (SCS). This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministerial Pension Scheme or the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund benefit from any optional remuneration arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministerial Pension Scheme does not utilise salary sacrifice arrangements.
An active member is required to pay a member contribution rate of 11.2% of pensionable salary to participate in the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministerial Pension Scheme or the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund benefit from any salary sacrifice arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministerial Pension Scheme does not utilise salary sacrifice arrangements.
An active member is required to pay a member contribution rate of 11.2% of pensionable salary to participate in the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government which public sector employers, including (1) NHS bodies, (2) maintained schools, (3) academy trusts, and (4) transport authorities, operate optional remuneration arrangements involving the sacrifice of earnings for employer pension contributions.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Remuneration arrangements involving the sacrifice of earnings for employer pension contributions are not possible within statutory Public Service Pension Schemes and those public sector employers to which the Managing Public Money guidance applies are not permitted to offer such remuneration schemes. For other public sector organisations, the Government does not hold a central record of which organisations offer this type of salary sacrifice arrangement.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 14 January (HL Deb col 1726), what assessment they have made of the impact of a robust household waste recycling system on reducing waste crime; and what steps they are taking towards a clear, simple and effective recycling system for household and commercial waste.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is conducting the Resources and Waste Policy Programme in England Evaluation, which includes the Simpler Recycling policy. In respect of waste crime, the evaluation work will look at the impact that our reforms to the Carrier, Broker, Dealer and Waste Permit Exemption regimes, and the introduction of Digital Waste Tracking, will have in that area. The evaluation launched in February 2022 and is due to deliver analysis across the impacts and economic evaluation strands by Spring 2029. This will look at progress across relevant outcomes including a reduction in waste crime.
The Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.
Every household and workplace (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises like schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core waste streams: metal, glass, plastic (including cartons), paper and card, food waste, and garden waste (for households only).
These reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates, and with the other collection and packaging reforms will support the use of more recycled material in the products we buy, and the growth of the UK recycling industry.
Simpler Recycling will be implemented as follows:
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what date the inquiry into pre-budget leaks led by James Bowler is expected to report, and whether its findings will be announced to Parliament.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury set out to the Treasury Select Committee on 10/12/25 that he hopes the review will conclude in advance of the Spring Statement, which is on 3 March.
The outcome of the review will be published.