Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason emails of 4 February 2026 were published as part of their release of documents around the appointment of Peter Mandelson; and whether more context for their inclusion will be provided.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer you to the Government's statement and release of information on 11th March, providing an update on the response to the Humble Address. The Government is working to ensure that Parliament’s instruction is met with the urgency and transparency that it deserves.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with Capita on the administration of Civil Service pensions.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.
The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in accessing their pensions are unacceptable.
Cabinet Office officials are in daily contact with Capita to progress the recovery plan, and keep Ministers informed of progress regularly. The Minister for the Cabinet Office has also met with the Capita CEO, both before and after the transition.
In response, we have set up a dedicated team to work urgently with Capita, with 650 full time staff from across Government and Capita and restoring normal service as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. It includes specific commitments to restore service levels for priority cases, deploy additional resources, and improve communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.
Capita has prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. A similar position will be reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March
Alongside these arrangements, Capita has prioritised payment of tax-free pension lump sums for members who had received quotations but were not in receipt of their benefits, with the vast majority of these having been paid in February.
The Cabinet Office has set out arrangements whereby employing departments are able to make interest-free hardship loans to those who are waiting for their pension benefits.
The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.
The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update (9 February 2026) is available at this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-9-february-2026
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is providing support to Capita to assist in clearing the backlog of Civil Service pension cases.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.
The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in accessing their pensions are unacceptable.
Cabinet Office officials are in daily contact with Capita to progress the recovery plan, and keep Ministers informed of progress regularly. The Minister for the Cabinet Office has also met with the Capita CEO, both before and after the transition.
In response, we have set up a dedicated team to work urgently with Capita, with 650 full time staff from across Government and Capita and restoring normal service as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. It includes specific commitments to restore service levels for priority cases, deploy additional resources, and improve communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.
Capita has prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. A similar position will be reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March
Alongside these arrangements, Capita has prioritised payment of tax-free pension lump sums for members who had received quotations but were not in receipt of their benefits, with the vast majority of these having been paid in February.
The Cabinet Office has set out arrangements whereby employing departments are able to make interest-free hardship loans to those who are waiting for their pension benefits.
The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.
The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update (9 February 2026) is available at this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-9-february-2026
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he will answer Questions 111166 and 111167 on the administration of the civil service pension scheme.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A response has been issued here 111166 and 111167
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with MyCSP on the timeline for delivery of Immediate Choice Remediable Service Statements for people with civil service pensions.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
MyCSP, the current administrators of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), continue work on the implementation of circa 132,100 impacted members who are drawing their pension and need to be provided with revised options for the Remedy period (2015 to 2022). This is known as Immediate Choice (IC).
In agreement with the Cabinet Office Pension team, acting as Scheme Managers, MyCSP provided 58,400 IC members with their remedial service statements by March 2025. Of this group, 43,400 members have returned their option forms and all but 500 of these will be implemented by the end of November.
From 1 December 2025, Capita takes over as scheme administrator and as part of this, they will pick up the remaining IC work as a focused programme of work ‘project 7’.This will see the remaining 56% of IC members provided with choices as soon as possible. This project is currently being scoped to establish what work remains and how quickly the work can be completed whilst balancing accuracy and business as usual requirements. Detailed delivery plans will be provided to the Cabinet Office by the end of March 2026.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full-time equivalent UK Government civil servants main place of employment is (a) Queen Elizabeth House Edinburgh and (b) elsewhere in Scotland.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The number of civil servants on a full-time equivalent basis reported as in post as at 31 March 2024 and based in Queen Elizabeth House is 2,760.
The number of civil servants based in Scotland on a full-time equivalent basis as at 31 March 2024 is 51,830. This information is published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025 and available through the Civil Service data browser at the following web address:
https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps Government is taking to enhance cyber resilience across critical (a) national infrastructure and (b) public institutions.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
We are committed to strengthening cyber security across the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), and all aspects of the Government digital estate.
The Government works closely with CNI operators in both the private and public sector to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur. As well as work to develop a more sophisticated understanding of cyber risk across UK CNI, the Government is focussed on ensuring that CNI operators are prepared to respond to and recover from incidents through better planning and regular exercising.
The King's Speech in July 2024 set out the Government’s intention to bring forward a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure.
To enhance the cyber resilience of public institutions, the Government Cyber Security Strategy has set a clear target for all government organisations to be resilient to known vulnerabilities and common attack methods by 2030.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of its budget the UK Integrated Security Fund has allocated for (a) conflict (i) prevention and (ii) resolution and (b) peacebuilding in the (A) 2024-25 and (B) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) came into operation on 1 April 2024 and has a budget of almost £1bn for Financial Year 2024-25. The Fund prioritises spending on those geographies and thematic issues that pose the greatest direct threat to the UK. Activity focussed on conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding are embedded into programmes across the ISF. However, these are not tracked as individual or separate components. The annual ISF budget for 2025-26 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the annual budget is for the UK Integrated Security Fund in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) came into operation on 1 April 2024 and has a budget of almost £1bn for Financial Year 2024/25. Exact spend for the Fund will be published in the 2024/25 ISF Annual Report later in the year. The annual ISF budget for 2025-26 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2017 to Question 108244, on Prosperity Fund, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of Prosperity Fund projects on gender equality in developing countries.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
All Prosperity Fund Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending must comply with the International Development Act 2002 and Gender Equality Act 2014. Large, multi-year Prosperity Fund programmes are being developed, building on the foundations laid by smaller projects in 2016/17.
The multi-year Prosperity Fund programmes will include an assessment on gender equality and inclusion. We are implementing a gender strategy to develop these assessments using specialist capability. An external monitoring and evaluation mechanism is in place that will provide information on the impact of programmes on gender equality.