Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when (a) he and (b) the Minister of State for Care last met with Community Pharmacy England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I last met with Community Pharmacy England on 25 February 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 23858 on NHS Business Services Authority: Workplace Pensions, how many remedial pension savings statements (a) were required in total, (b) had been issued to date, (c) were calculated and awaiting fulfilment and (d) were still outstanding in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), the scheme administrator, has identified that 137,694 remedial pension savings statements are required. Of these, 60,630 statements have been calculated and issued, and 1,887 statements have been calculated and are awaiting fulfilment. The 75,177 statements outstanding include statements that require calculations and statements that require re-calculations.

The NHSBSA had previously reported a higher number of statements issued due to a batch of remedial pension savings statements being categorised as “issued” when they were still undergoing their quality assurance process. The current figures only consider remedial pension savings statements as “issued” once they have passed the NHSBSA’s quality assurance and have been fulfilled.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of the £233 million funding for homelessness services is expected to be spent on covering increased employer National Insurance contributions.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The £233 million uplift in homelessness funding has been provided to get back on track to ending homelessness. This brings total for funding for homelessness services to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.

The Government has also announced £502 million in funding to protect local government from changes to employer National Insurance contributions. Allocations have been published here Updated explanatory note on the Employer National Insurance Contribution Grant 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Remedial Service Statements (a) are required in total (b) have been issued to date (c) are calculated and awaiting fulfilment and (d) still outstanding.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), the scheme administrator, has identified that 381,920 remedial service statements are required for affected members who have retired. Of these, 21 statements have been issued and 393 have been calculated and are awaiting fulfilment, and 381,506 are outstanding.

A revised delivery plan for remedial service statements is currently in production and will be communicated with affected individuals within the coming weeks. The Department recognises the importance of issuing the remedial service statements to members in a timely way and is working with the NHSBSA to increase delivery.