Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Child Maintenance Service late payment fees being deducted from maintenance payments on receiving parents and children.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) does not charge late payment fees. It does charge fees to paying parents and receiving parents who are on the Collect and Pay service: twenty per cent on top of the maintenance liability for the paying parent and four per cent of the maintenance received for the receiving parent.

A case will only be moved to Collect and Pay if the paying parent agrees to Collect and Pay, or if they demonstrate an unwillingness to pay their maintenance liability. This is why paying parents are charged a higher fee (20 per cent) as they have more control on whether the case is put into Collect and Pay. The collection charge is only deducted when the maintenance is paid.

In July 2024 the government consulted on the proposal for wider reform to consolidate the CMS into a single service type where the CMS monitors and transfers payments. The consultation Improving the collection and transfer of payments, also proposed a new fee structure of just 2% for receiving parents, deducted from maintenance received; 2% for compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed; and 20% for non-compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed. The consultation received over 2,700 public responses, and engagement from stakeholder organisations across the UK in addition to commissioning research to help quantify the impact of the reforms.

The Government published its response to the consultation on the 23 June setting out its intention to proceed with reform of the system. More information can be found at Government response: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that timeframes imposed by the Child Maintenance Service are (a) proportionate and (b) matched by equivalent service standards within the Department.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We have interpreted your question to refer to the timescales the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses in progressing cases.

The CMS inform customers of expected timeframes for actions to be completed when changes are reported or require progressing. Customers can use the Track Changes function on MCMC at any time to view the expected completion date of changes.

The timescales to progress cases varies depending on the type of case action being taken and information required to progress any change. When CMS require additional information to progress a case, the customer is advised of the timeframe for providing the information required.

The CMS has four official key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that the service acts on information and progresses cases in a timely manner once received from the customer. These KPIs include standard measures for 1) assessment accuracy, 2) application clearances, 3) change of circumstances clearances and 4) Collect and Pay compliance.

The CMS has exceeded the KPI indicators, demonstrating that it is meeting the standards set by the department. We are always working to modernise our service and how we communicate with our customers. We also work closely with the wider DWP colleagues to ensure measures and timescales are compared for consistency, where appropriate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of allowing asylum seekers to work unrestricted by the Immigration Salary List after six months awaiting an asylum decision on (a) the economy and (b) community cohesion.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 4 June to Question 55328.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) increase capacity and (b) ensure more passengers are able to be seated on services into London on South Western Railway.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department is working closely with South Western Railway on the introduction of the Arterio fleet which will add the much needed additional capacity and seats on services into London. In the meantime, South Western Railway is managing the rest of its train fleet to ensure that capacity is prioritised where it is most needed.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to safeguard members' benefits when a sponsoring employer seeks to extract pension scheme surpluses.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Currently, some Defined Benefit schemes can already consider releasing their surplus under existing rules. The Pension Schemes Bill will provide more flexibility for trustees of these and other well-funded schemes to safely share some surplus with employers and members. This is underpinned with strict funding safeguards to ensure members’ pensions are protected.

Scheme trustees are required to act in the interest of scheme beneficiaries and will be responsible for agreeing to any decisions on surplus release. Schemes will also need to meet a minimum funding level and require actuarial certification before the release of any surplus. Further, our scheme funding regulations, overseen by the Pensions Regulator, require that trustees maintain a strong funding position so they can pay members’ future pensions when they fall due, including planning for future volatility.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to give pension scheme trustees the authority to award discretionary increases to those already claiming a pension.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Discretionary indexation is over and above the statutory requirements. This discretion is usually exercised by the trustees with the agreement of the sponsoring employer. Some schemes have previously paid discretionary increases on a regular basis. However, these increases are not part of the pension package promised.

The precise design of pension benefits is a matter for employers and trustees and is not covered in the Department for Work and Pensions legislation. Pension scheme rules are many and varied and must remain a matter for employers and scheme trustees to decide.

The Pension Schemes Bill makes changes so that more trustees of well-funded schemes have the flexibility to share their scheme surplus with employers, subject to strict funding safeguards for members. Scheme trustees are required to act in the interest of scheme beneficiaries, and working with sponsoring employers, will be responsible for decisions on the release of surplus. Together they will agree how members can benefit from any release of surplus, which could include discretionary benefit increases.

The Pensions Regulator already expects that trustees be aware of members who would benefit from any decision to award a discretionary increase and whether the scheme has a history of making such awards.

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 potential impact of changes to the employers' National Insurance Contributions on providers of adult social care.

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

The Department routinely conducts assessments of cost pressures for local authority funded adult social care, which include the costs associated with changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions.

To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government has made available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26. There is also an extra £502 million of support for local authorities in England to manage the impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions, as announced at the Autumn Budget.

In addition, the Spending Review allows for an increase of over £4 billion of funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that there is adequate (a) capacity and (b) resources for anticipated levels of demand for English-language classes, in the context of proposed requirements for English language proficiency for visa applications.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

I refer the Hon Member to Paragraphs 244-258 of the Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, which addresses these issues in detail. Further updates will be provided in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the Community Sponsorship scheme for refugees.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced a review of our existing refugee sponsorship and resettlement schemes to develop a more cost-effective and sustainable framework which will deliver better outcomes for refugees and the communities in which they live.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to begin consulting with adult social care providers on proposals for a Fair Pay Agreement.

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

In England, we are committed to consulting on the design of the Fair Pay Agreement process, and we aim to begin a public consultation after the Employment Rights Bill receives Royal Assent later this year. We expect the consultation to run for 12 weeks, and we will work with partners to reach as much of the sector as possible.

We have already begun engaging with sector representatives in England through the Department’s Fair Pay Agreement Working Group and policy specific task and finish groups, which will help to inform policy options for a public consultation on the design of the Fair Pay Agreement process.

UK-based medical charities in Palestine

Government policy on the Hillsborough Law

Provision of trained Family Liaison Officers

Carers and social care reform

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Pavement parking

Tackling food waste

International Women in Engineering Day

Local authority funding

Naloxone

Methanol poisoning, UK traveller risk, awareness and education in schools

Drug education in independent schools

Support for people with dyscalculia

100 years of RAF Odiham

Cool hubs

Longlevens Mixed Ability Rugby Team champions

Loan Charge and settlement terms offered to large companies and individuals

Zero carbon homes

Accelerating construction work and lower carbon construction vehicles

Scientific hearing on animal experiments

Press ownership by foreign states

Found: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative; Gosport) (Chair) Mr Bayo Alaba (Labour; Southend East and Rochford) Zöe Franklin

Found: Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde Mr Joshua Reynolds Zöe Franklin

Found: Cane Olly Glover Martin Wrigley Tessa Munt Helen Maguire Josh Babarinde Mr Joshua Reynolds Zöe Franklin

Found: Sabine David Chadwick Munira Wilson Steve Darling Daisy Cooper John Milne Charlotte Cane Zöe Franklin

Found: Sabine David Chadwick Munira Wilson Steve Darling Daisy Cooper John Milne Charlotte Cane Zöe Franklin

Found: _NC3 Zöe Franklin Dr Danny Chambers Jess Brown-Fuller Helen Morgan Alison Bennett .

Found: McDonnell Paula Barker Debbie Abrahams Anna Sabine Alice Macdonald Leigh Ingham Cameron Thomas Zöe Franklin

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