Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to monitor (a) PCSE and (b) Capita's performance in managing the NHS Pension Scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Service Authority is the scheme manager for NHS Pensions. NHS England is the employing authority for general practitioners (GPs) and undertakes local pension administration for GPs through Primary Care Support England (PCSE). NHS England has a monthly governance board in place to monitor and assure the delivery of the PCSE service, which includes an assessment of quality and performance indicators.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) PCSE and (b) Capita's management of the NHS pension scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary Care Support England’s (PCSE) services are contracted to Capita Business Services Ltd under a contract held by NHS England. As part of the service, PCSE collects general practitioner pension contribution and earnings information and passes this to NHS Pensions, which is administered by the NHS Business Services Authority. NHS England has governance in place to oversee the performance of Capita Business Services Ltd in delivering the PCSE contract in a range of ways. This includes holding PCSE to account for service delivery using key performance indicators, monitoring of complaints, and annual third-party audits.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of waiting times for NHS Pension Scheme queries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Pension Scheme queries can be raised with the NHS Pension Scheme administrator, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), and in the case of general practitioners (GPs), with Primary Care Support England (PCSE), who record GPs’ pensionable service and collect pension contributions.
The NHSBSA reported that in March 2025, for general queries, the average speed for a call to be answered was 173 seconds, and the average response time for emails was 0.6 days. Further information about processing times for payments, estimates, transfers, and general queries received in writing is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/current-processing-times-nhs-pensions
The pension queries received by PCSE are often complex and could involve records of GP service over multiple years, and can require working with the GP and other parties to resolve. PCSE’s services are contracted to Capita Business Services Ltd under a contract held by NHS England. NHS England has governance in place to oversee the performance of that contract, which includes monitoring the handling of queries and complaints. There are governance arrangements in place involving NHS England, PCSE, and NHS Pensions, to oversee the end-to-end service and identify areas for further improvement.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of modernisation of Primary Care Support England's NHS Pensions Scheme processes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary Care Support England (PCSE) follows the pension scheme requirements laid down by NHS Pensions. PCSE has provided an online portal, PCSE Online, which provides general practitioners (GPs), practices, and commissioners with a simple and efficient way to manage pension payments and provide visibility on the information held by PCSE in relation to their pension. PCSE Online enables GPs and non-GP partners to determine if their pension details held by PCSE are correct, identify any gaps, and gives them the ability to self-serve a number of administrative tasks, including submitting end-of-year pension certificates. PCSE draws information from PCSE Online to update the pension scheme records of GPs held by NHS Pensions.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the internet-based platform used for the NHS Pension Scheme; and what steps she is taking to improve training for service handlers in using the platform.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Primary Care Support England (PCSE) launched the PCSE Online GP Pensions system to provide general practitioners and general practices with greater convenience, and more transparency and security when it comes to their pension contributions data. NHS England regularly monitors the effectiveness of PCSE Online, to ensure it continues to meet the needs of general practices. This includes performance management of the IT system and service, supporting PCSE’s webinar development and delivery for users, and working closely with NHS Pensions and the British Medical Association to ensure that training is reflective of any changes.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) Primary Care Support England's (b) Capita's management of the NHS Pensions Scheme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority is the scheme manager for NHS Pensions. NHS England is the employing authority for general practices (GPs) and undertakes local pension administration for GPs through Primary Care Support England (PCSE). NHS England entered into a contract with Capita Business Services Ltd, also known as Capita, to deliver primary care support services and save costs. In order to monitor PCSE, NHS England has a monthly governance board in place to monitor and assure the delivery of the PCSE service, which includes assessment of quality and performance indicators.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the roll out of the HPV vaccine to boys over the age of 13.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
I refer the hon. Member to the answer the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care (Steve Brine MP) gave to the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Sharon Hodgson MP) on 13 December 2018 to Question 199808.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has committed to research into Tinnitus.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including tinnitus. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link:
https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/
NIHR support for tinnitus research was over £1.4 million over the last five years. This included funding for research projects, and funding for The NIHR is managed infrastructure to support tinnitus research. For example, The NIHR is managed infrastructure is supporting a proof-of-concept trial using targeted acoustic stimulation to treat tinnitus and a feasibility study using eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as a treatment for tinnitus.