Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department made of the risk that alerts could expose survivors of domestic abuse relying on a concealed phone to seek help prior to issuing the Emergency Alert of 14 August 2026; and what prior engagement took place with domestic abuse charities on that risk.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Protecting victims of domestic abuse is always our priority. Both national tests of the Emergency Alerting capability were accompanied by a proactive public communications campaign informing the public of how to opt out of alerts, if they wished to do so.
This included extensive engagement with charities and groups representing vulnerable communities, such as Refuge. Advice on how to opt-out of emergency alerts is available at all times of GOV.UK/alerts, and is included in the websites of a number of charities and organisations that support victims of domestic abuse.
In a ‘live’ activation scenario such as this, such pre-planned public communications are difficult to ensure. As far as possible, the Cabinet Office engages with the media ahead of the transmission of an Alert to provide notice to the public.
The Cabinet Office recommends that victims of domestic abuse with concealed phones consider opting-out of receiving alerts either by turning off Emergency Alerts in their phone settings or by switching their phone off when it is not in use.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the period of time between announcing the Emergency Alert of 14 August 2025 to the public and the alert itself being issued.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
In a ‘live’ activation scenario such as this, pre-planned public communications such as those carried out ahead of the national test in September 2025 are difficult to ensure. Please be assured that we are learning from each activation.
As far as possible, the Cabinet Office engages with the media ahead of the transmission of an Alert to provide notice to the public.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria her Department applies in distinguishing between the use of Emergency Alerts to (a) warn of danger that is imminent and (b) help prevent a serious incident from occurring.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies. This tool is only used in emergency scenarios, and where the need is greatest. The Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data her Department holds on the national opt-out rate from Emergency Alerts; and what estimate she has made of the number of mobile phone users successfully reached by the alert of 14 August 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
It is not possible to gather data on the national opt out rate for Emergency Alerts. This is because Emergency Alerts use cell broadcast technology, which is “one-way” and does not provide any feedback to the government or Mobile Network Operators about you, your location or whether an individual handset has received an Emergency Alert.
The activation was technically successful, with no widespread problems reported by Mobile Network Operators.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to expedite compensation payments under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme; and whether he will review the current timetable.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). The IBCA Framework Document, published in March 2025, sets out the timelines agreed between IBCA and Cabinet Office; namely for the bulk of infected people to be paid no later than the end of next year and the bulk of affected people to be paid no later than the end of 2029. The Government has been clear that these dates are not targets for delivery, but ‘backstops’.
In July 2025, I asked for a review of IBCA's delivery of the scheme to ensure it is progressing as quickly as possible. This was supported by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, NISTA, and led by an independent reviewer. The review began in August 2025 and ended in October 2025. I published the report on 30 October 2025, and you can find it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infected-blood-compensation-authority-independent-review/infected-blood-compensation-authority-independent-review.
The review of IBCA’s delivery of the Scheme, supported by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, found that IBCA has made “substantial early progress” toward delivering compensation to the victims of infected blood. IBCA has now opened the service for all cohorts. As it did with the first group of people making a claim, IBCA is now building a service for all cohorts.This approach means that the numbers will initially be lower, but I expect that, as with the first group, those numbers will rise exponentially as progress is made.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of Capita’s performance in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme; and what steps she is taking to improve service levels.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
In November 2023, the Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita. This was under the previous government. The Scheme transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025. We are aware that Capita’s current performance is having a detrimental impact on some members.
We are working urgently with Capita to resolve these issues, and to ensure that civil servants, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.
We have established a cross-departmental team to work with Capita to develop and implement a recovery plan. Alongside this, Capita is increasing staffing in key areas, to increase processing times in relation to new retirements and support for members, particularly those impacted by delays.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress he has made on reducing the time taken to provide full compensation to people affected by the infected blood scandal; and what steps he is taking to ensure compensation is provided to victims before they die.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). Whilst the roll out of the scheme is an operational decision for IBCA as an independent body, I fully support their commitment to moving forward as swiftly as possible and as the Minister, I stand ready to help and assist in any way I can to speed up the payments.
IBCA has paid over £96 million in compensation. In April, IBCA wrote to all those who are living with infection and registered with a support scheme and asked those who have less than 12 months to live to come forward. IBCA is now prioritising claims for those who are living with infection and registered with a support scheme and nearing the end of their lives. Going forward, IBCA has outlined that it is aiming to contact an average of 100 people to begin their claim every week. At that rate, they expect to have brought in to claim all those who are infected and registered with a support scheme this calendar year. The Government expects IBCA to begin payments to people who are affected by the end of this year.