Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Capita in issuing Remedial Service Statements.
Answered by Sally Jameson - Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The pension scheme has 1.7m members with approximately 420k members affected by Remedy. Capita, having assumed responsibility for the Civil Service Pension Scheme in December 2025, is responsible for delivering the remaining 2015 Remedy work. The cases remaining to be processed are generally the most complex, involving intricate service histories, multiple retirements, or complex benefit structures.
All active and deferred Remedy-affected members receive this choice at retirement. The McCloud remedy work is a bespoke and one-off piece of work that is not an ongoing part of the services for members who have not yet retired. As part of the remedy work, members, who had service during the remedy period, who retired and claimed benefits before 1st October 2023, receive an immediate choice remedial savings statement (RSS). The RSS confirms their options and asks them to confirm their choice of benefits between their legacy scheme and alpha for the remedy period. To date, 58,411 RSS’s have been distributed and 42,516 immediate choice elections have been implemented.
The Cabinet Office has now received Capita's Remedy Delivery plan for completion of the outstanding work. We are currently reviewing, challenging and assuring the Full Business Case and cost profile. The Civil Service Pensions Scheme website will be updated as this work progresses.
It is important to note that all impacted members in receipt of a pension are already receiving benefits and that the remedy is a potential adjustment, depending on the member’s choice, to benefits already in payment. As such the alternative scheme benefits does not automatically provide a member with a higher pension and lump sum. Where it does and the member makes an alternative scheme election, the difference between what has been paid and what is due, will be backdated to the original payment date and paid to the member inclusive of interest.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to update the Community Emergency Plan Toolkit.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has completed an initial review of current guidance to inform a programme of updates to ensure local responders and the wider community have access to the guidance they need.
The Community Emergency Plan Toolkit will be updated within that programme.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for deceased infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should reflect the different impacts of infection by developing severity bandings.
The Expert Group provided the Government with clinical advice on the distinctions between these impacts. This meant the Government could set severity bands for Hepatitis infections based on clear clinical markers.
As set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025, where someone’s experience of Hepatitis, whether it is historic or in the present day, has been more severe, they will receive more compensation. In its Additional Report, published 9 July, the Inquiry stated that “that tiers are relevant to Hepatitis in a way in which they are not in cases of HIV.”
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should reflect the different impacts of infection by developing severity bandings.
The Expert Group provided the Government with clinical advice on the distinctions between these impacts. This meant the Government could set severity bands for Hepatitis infections based on clear clinical markers.
As set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025, where someone’s experience of Hepatitis, whether it is historic or in the present day, has been more severe, they will receive more compensation. In its Additional Report, published 9 July, the Inquiry stated that “that tiers are relevant to Hepatitis in a way in which they are not in cases of HIV.”