Pension Schemes

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for the Statement from the Commons, which I welcome. Does she recognise that the problem here—we can take the comments from the Opposition with a pinch of salt—comes to a large extent from the system of outsourcing, which is why we welcome the bit in the Labour manifesto at the last election about introducing a large degree of insourcing. We hope that programme will proceed at pace.

Can my noble friend confirm or clarify why Capita retained the Civil Service contract? Members of the scheme are suffering, both those in retirement and those claiming death benefits. They find it incredible that the contract cannot be taken away. Is the problem that, however badly Capita performs, the chaos that would ensue if the contract were taken away abruptly would cause even more problems? Is this an issue with the way these outsourcing contracts work?

Finally, I have a factual question. The Statement states that a large number—I forget exactly what it was—of people are waiting for quotations. Having spoken to the unions and many of the members involved about this, I ask: how many people have received quotations but have not yet actually received their benefits?