Oral Answers to Questions

Lorraine Beavers Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

17. What recent assessment he has made of the value for money of public contracts with private sector providers.

[The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Nick Thomas-Symonds)]

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, is doing great work to ensure that public procurement is on the side of working people. Outsourcing by default has not delivered, so a new public interest test would ensure that outsourcing decisions are based on value for money, social value, market and economic impact, and capability and capacity.

[Lorraine Beavers]

Despite Capita’s horrendous administration of the civil service pension scheme, it was still awarded the Synergy shared services contract. We still do not have a reason why—and I am not the first person in this House to ask. Will the Minister finally confirm who was responsible for the decision and whether the Cabinet Office signed it off?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend’s assessment of Capita’s lamentable performance on the civil service pension scheme. We have to take individual decisions on contracts. For example, yesterday I cancelled Capita’s contract for the Royal Mail statutory pension scheme. I am robustly holding Capita to account, including by withholding milestone payments on the civil service pension scheme. With regard to the Synergy contract, that was led by the Department for Work and Pensions through the normal process, and it too will be managed robustly.