Oral Answers to Questions

Jeff Smith Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has sought and received specific assurances from Capita regarding the Synergy contract. Members across the House should be in no doubt about this Government’s desire to hold Capita robustly to account for its responsibilities under its contracts.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester Withington) (Lab)]

10. What steps he plans to take to consult the public on the design of the digital ID scheme.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr James Frith)]

Public services should be there for us when we need them, but right now it is too hard for people to get what they need. The new, free-to-access digital ID intends to change that by supporting the personalising of public services, making everyday life easier for everyone. The consultation will be launched next week to ensure that the public can have their say on how we make digital ID work for them.

[Jeff Smith]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his well-deserved elevation to ministerial office.

Even though digital ID will make it easier for people to access public services and engage with public bodies, there is still an awful lot of disinformation, and frankly conspiracy theories, out there trying to undermine the case for it. Do the Government have any specific plans to try to counter those narratives as part of the consultation?

[Mr Frith]

I thank my hon. Friend for his well wishes; I am grateful for the opportunity to help to dispel any misinformation on this exciting programme of digital transformation of our public services. Let me be clear: this will not be compulsory, and there is no central pot of data. In my early conversations, I have already been assured of the security of data by design and the intentions of this plan to make digital ID not compulsory, but something that people deem for themselves to be a “must have”. It is for us to rise to this challenge in our design and delivery of it. More broadly, we want to have a national conversation. The upcoming consultation will clearly set out the Government’s position on this programme.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Jarvis]

On a simple point of fact, FIRS is not three years old. When we came into government, FIRS was not a properly developed system. [Interruption.] Opposition Members may groan, but it is a statement of truth that FIRS was not ready to go. This Government got a grip and introduced that tool. It came into force, in effect, on 1 October last year. We have already placed two countries on the enhanced tier. We take these decisions very carefully, but I give the hon. Gentleman a commitment that I will come back, when there is a requirement to do so, and update the House on any further decisions that we seek to make on FIRS.

[Jeff Smith (Manchester Withington) (Lab)]

T4. The Government deal with a huge number of arm’s length public bodies of variable value and success. What progress are Ministers making on tackling the number and effectiveness of arm’s length public bodies?

[The Minister without Portfolio (Anna Turley)]

I thank my hon. Friend for that really important question. We have undertaken an arm’s length body review, and it is making serious progress. We have already seen NHS England removed, to make sure that we bring our important services under democratic control. We are also looking to make a huge amount of savings in this area. I look forward to updating my hon. Friend and the House on progress shortly.