Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance NHS England provides to independent investigators examining a homicide involving a person who received mental health care on sharing relevant findings with a Domestic Homicide Review into the same death.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not provide separate guidance to independent investigators on sharing findings with a Domestic Abuse Related Death Review, previously known as a Domestic Homicide Review, into the same death.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Pension Scheme cases processed by Capita met the relevant contractual key performance indicators for (a) retirement quotes, (b) retirement payments, (c) bereavement cases, (d) death-in-service cases and (e) ill-health retirement cases as at 30 September 2026; and what reporting period, number of cases and contractual performance target were used for each category.
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 specific contractual Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets and individual performance percentages for the Civil Service Pension Scheme are commercially confidential and are not routinely published.
However, the Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention is underway; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
The Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita. Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense. Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Civil Service Pension Scheme cases remained outstanding beyond the relevant contractual processing timescale for (a) retirement quotes, (b) retirement payments, (c) bereavement cases, (d) death-in-service cases and (e) ill-health retirement cases on 30 September 2026; and how many cases in each category Capita classified as non-workable.
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 specific contractual Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets and individual performance percentages for the Civil Service Pension Scheme are commercially confidential and are not routinely published.
However, the Government is committed to transparency regarding operational recovery. Priority is being directed towards high-impact and vulnerable cases - specifically bereavement, death-in-service, and ill-health retirement awards - to clear backlogs, stabilise operational workflows, and return performance across all categories. Cabinet Office closely monitors Capita’s delivery of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Ministers have been clear that Capita’s performance has fallen short of acceptable standards, which is why urgent intervention is underway; including mandating production of a formal service rectification plan.
The Government is taking robust action to hold Capita to account. This includes withholding £9.9 million in contract payments for undelivered milestones, alongside confirmation that the Government surge team costs will be recovered directly from Capita. Independent auditors have been deployed to conduct a technical systems review, and an on-the-ground Remedial Adviser has been appointed at Capita’s expense. Further commercial, legal, and operational options remain on the table, and work is continuing on actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Domestic Homicide Reviews were awaiting their first assessment by the Home Office Quality Assurance Board on 1 September 2026; and what the median time was between submission by a Community Safety Partnership and that first assessment in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides on the frequency of progress updates to bereaved families during Domestic Homicide Reviews commissioned before 15 September 2026; and who is responsible for providing those updates while a review is undergoing Home Office quality assurance.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on options for improving oversight of the implementation of recommendations from Domestic Homicide Reviews; and when she expects to announce the outcome of that work.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Domestic Homicide Reviews commissioned before 15 September 2026 remain unpublished; and, of those, how many have been in progress for more than (a) two years and (b) three years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), offer a vital opportunity for national and local agencies, local communities, and society as a whole to learn lessons from fatal domestic abuse and to treat every death as preventable.
The Home Office is reforming DARDRs to improve their efficiency, enhance accountability, and ensure that recommendations are disseminated and embedded more swiftly. An updated version of the statutory guidance that underpins DARDRs was published on 15 September 2026.
The statutory guidance sets out the importance of involving family and friends closely in the DARDR process. The 2016 DHR guidance (used for cases commissioned before 15 September 2026) outlines that the review Chair should provide the family with ‘regular engagement and updates on progress through the advocate, including the timeline expected for publication’.
Historically there have been significant delays in the DARDR quality assurance (QA) process. To resolve this, we have reformed the QA process and introduced a new DARDR Quality Assurance Board, appointing three new public office holders. The Board members bring decades of frontline experience and are experts in domestic abuse. This replaces the former QA Panel and is designed to streamline review procedures, ensure consistent, high-quality feedback, and provide Community Safety Partnerships with more timely responses going forward.
As of 1 September 2026, there were 62 reviews awaiting quality assurance. We have successfully reduced the backlog from 11 months in September 2025, to a report being heard within 6 weeks of submission in September 2026. We do not hold the information on the number of outstanding DARDRs commissioned before the 15 September 2026.
The Home Office has committed to funding and delivering an oversight mechanism for recommendations made as part of DARDRs. This work is currently underway, and further details will be announced in due course. In December 2025 we published the Freedom from Violence and Abuse, Cross Governmental Strategy and Action Plan. This outlines that going forward all national recommendations from DARDRs will be shared with the Ministerial Violence Against Women and Girls Board, which will provide governance to ensure that recommendations lead to meaningful change and drive accountability.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been allocated in each financial year from 2026-27 to 2028-29 for the provision of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors; and how that funding compares in cash and real terms with funding provided for the existing service.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Department has made of the potential effect of changes to the procurement of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors on (a) waiting times, (b) accessibility, (c) service quality and (d) survivor safety.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether an equality impact assessment has been completed for the 2026-29 procurement of specialist domestic abuse support for deaf and disabled victims and survivors.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As part of ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls’, the Home Office committed to deliver specialist VAWG Helplines across England and Wales alongside 1-1 advocacy support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.
The competitions to deliver this £24 million investment closed on 31 July 2026. As the competitions are still ongoing, we are unable to comment on the details beyond what has already been published. However, we can provide assurance that the Home Office is working to ensure there is no gap in provision between existing services including for disabled people and the services awarded through the competition.