Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether alignment of EU and UK clean technology standards are a subject of discussion of the EU-UK Reset negotiations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The UK and EU are working together to support the development of clean energy technologies; the Electricity Agreement will cover the promotion of renewables, and the May 2025 Common Understanding welcomed continued technical and regulatory exchanges on new energy technologies.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with advanced and terminal illnesses receive the Civil Service Pensions in a timely manner.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and GOV.UK.
We are making Capita work to restore, to contractual levels, administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme following its failed transition in December last year. Capita committed to restoring the service by the end of June. The Government is now undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the latest data provided by Capita post the end of June commitment.
We remain committed to holding Capita accountable. Should underperformance occur and the agreed firm end of June deadline not be met, the Government will not hesitate to take firm action, all commercial levers will be used and all options will be considered.
I can confirm that when the scheme administrator receives an application from a member suffering from serious ill health, they should be prioritising these cases as a matter of urgency and look to resolve them.
Capita were initially instructed to prioritise and clear the most urgent cases such as Death in Service and Ill-Health during February and March. While Capita previously assured us that performance standards for Death in Service and Ill-Health were being met by mid-March, recent information continues to demonstrate unacceptable delays in some ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases. We have urgently escalated this to Capita, who are actively investigating the underlying data and reasons for these continued delays.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to align Government policy with the EU’s higher air quality standards as part of the European Partnership Bill.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The European Partnership Bill will provide the necessary powers to deliver treaties with the European Union now and in the future. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill when it is introduced to Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the European Partnership Bill will include provisions on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The European Partnership Bill will provide the necessary powers to deliver treaties with the European Union now and in the future. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill when it is introduced to Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to have further phases of civil service relocation; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of relocating civil servants to (a) Preston and (b) other host cities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The next phase of Places for Growth will move thousands more roles out of London to bring the Civil Service closer to the communities it serves. Preston will continue to have a thriving Civil Service community as part of the North West Digital and Cyber Security corridor. Government departments can also continue to build on the existing Civil Service presence there if it aligns with their business needs.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to help ensure that public services are available to (a) individuals and (b) households without internet access.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
All new public services therefore must adhere to the Government Service Standards, which require Departments to provide a service that meets the needs of all users, across a range of channels. These channels include phone, paper, and face-to-face as options for both individuals or households that do not have access to the internet, or lack the confidence to use it.
Service teams are required to provide evidence that their service meets these standards, as part of which they undertake rigorous user testing for both online and offline services.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure that all those affected by contaminated blood receive appropriate compensation; and what is his planned timetable for finalising the compensation framework.
Answered by John Glen
I recognise that the use of Infected Blood and blood products was an appalling tragedy. Clinical, legal and social care experts are being appointed to advise the Cabinet Office on technical considerations to inform the Government’s response to the Inquiry’s recommendations on compensation. The Inquiry will publish its final report on 20th May and I have committed to updating Parliament within 25 sitting days of its publication.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have their (a) payroll and (ii) pensions managed by private limited company Shared Services Connected Ltd; what was the cost to the public purse of using this company in (i) 2020-21 (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23; and whether he plans to take steps to administer the payroll and pensions of all civil servants in-house.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) services are provided to approximately 260,000 civil servants across the Health and Safety Executive, Office for Nuclear Regulation, Ministry of Justice, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and Cabinet Office. SSCL costs for all Independent Shared Services Centre Two (ISSC2) departments in calendar year 2020 were £171m and for calendar year 2021 were £206m. This change was due to a surge of short term and catch up volumes as a result of the COVID pandemic and project start ups.
2022 calendar year costs have not yet been published. SSCL are contracted to perform as-is services until October 2025. Future service provision, beyond this date, is currently being considered for the whole of the civil service.
This system saves duplication of effort across government departments, enabling them to focus work and resources on the British people’s priorities.
The costs stated are for all services provided by SSCL which include HR, Finance, Recruitment and Procurement Services. Across all streams, they process approximately 6 million transactions per annum.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of (a) exports and (b) imports between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 18 February 2022 is attached.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, what the scientific basis is for lifting remaining covid-19 restrictions as announced on 21 February 2022.
Answered by Boris Johnson
I refer the Hon. Member to both my statement to the House and press conference of 21 February.