Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the 40 benefit-related investigations reported in the Department for Work and Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2025–26 resulted in (a) dismissal, (b) referral to the police and (c) criminal proceedings.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government Internal Audit Agency undertakes independent, internal disciplinary investigations on behalf of the DWP into allegations of internal fraud and other serious misconduct.
Of the 40 benefit-related investigations completed by GIAA in 2025-26, 39 related to DWP employees and one related to an individual employed by an outsourced provider.
To avoid prejudicing ongoing investigations and to comply with data protection obligations, the Department is unable to provide further information on individual cases, including details of the benefits involved, the nature of the misconduct, the number of claimants affected, disciplinary outcomes, criminal referrals, criminal proceedings, or amounts recovered or written off.
Information relating to any successful criminal convictions becomes publicly available through the courts.
The Department takes its responsibility for protecting the public purse extremely seriously and seeks to recover losses arising from internal fraud wherever possible. The Department has a range of debt recovery powers available, including recovery of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken to issue police pensions.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Responsibility for the administration of the police pension scheme lies with individual police forces, with each Chief Constable acting as scheme manager under the police pension regulations. Pension administrators are appointed and managed locally by forces.
The Home Office continues to engage with policing partners on issues affecting the administration of police pension schemes and recognises the importance of members receiving timely and accurate pension information.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to help protect gas engineers from customers who have had a past of being abusive to engineers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
Employers have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to manage the risk to employees from work-related violence, which includes:
The duty extends to employees visiting customers' homes, including gas engineers. Employers are expected to assess and manage those risks. To assist employers, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published guidance on how to assess the risks and put the right controls in place to protect workers. There is specific guidance on violence and aggression at work: Violence and aggression at work - HSE and for lone workers: Lone working: Protect those working alone - HSE
If an employee has experienced violence in connection with a work activity, HSE encourages them to report this to their employer. Employers, certain self-employed people and those in control of work premises must report certain workplace injuries, dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases to HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). Workers may also want to report instances of violence or intimidation to the police.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that disabled people who rely on assistance dogs, including psychiatric assistance dogs, are not subjected to harassment or unlawful exclusion when accessing shops and other public-facing businesses.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
No one should face discrimination, harassment or abuse because they are disabled or because they rely on an assistance dog. The Equality Act 2010 places a general duty on businesses and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled people, including people with assistance dogs, access to goods and services so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act. It has published guidance - ‘Assistance Dogs: a guide for businesses and service providers’ - to help businesses understand what they can do to meet their legal duties to assistance dog owners.
Duties and protections under the Equality Act are ultimately enforceable through the courts, and anybody who thinks that they have been discriminated against - including where access to an assistance dog has been refused - can take legal action to seek to resolve the issue. The EHRC will support people who have experienced discrimination through that process.
This Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime, including those targeting disabled people, wherever they occur and whoever is responsible.
Where criminal offences are motivated by hostility towards disability, we expect the police to investigate robustly and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to bring offenders to justice.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the 1987 police pension scheme and remove the rule under which surviving partners of police officers lose their pension payments if they remarry or enter a new cohabiting relationship.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the response given to UIN 813 on the 18th May 2026.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what are her plans to review the Police Pension Scheme 1987 with regard to the loss of the Survivor Pension for widows, widowers, or surviving civil partners who remarry or enter a new cohabiting relationship.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the response given to UIN 813 on the 18th May 2026.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the implementation of the McCloud remedy on waiting times for the production of Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) quotations under police pension schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
No such assessment has been made. CETV quotations are produced for scheme members by the relevant scheme administrator. While the Home Office has responsibility for overarching policy and legislative changes to the police pension regulations, the police pension schemes are locally administered by individual police forces.
It is for each Chief Constable, in their role as scheme manager for their force, to determine their administrative timetable. This includes the production of CETV quotations.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which organisations have (a) had departmental Civil Servants seconded to HMRC and the Valuation Office since July 2024 and (b) seconded organisational staff to HMRC and the Valuation Office in that period.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Since July 2024, HMRC civil servants have been seconded to the following organisations:
• Gambling Commission
• Office for Environmental Protection
• St Helena Government
• Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA)
• Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
• Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
• Nesta
• Pubs Code Adjudicator
• TaxAid
• Resolution Foundation
• Bank of England
• London School of Economics
• National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
• GCHQ
• University College London (UCL)
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• British Indian Ocean Territory
• Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR)
• St James's Palace
• National Crime Agency (NCA)
• Falkland Islands Government
• Alexander Mann Solutions
• UK Government Investments
• Isle of Man Government
• Arts Council NI
• HMG Gibraltar
• Financial Ombudsman Service
The VOA seconded out civil servants to:
• HM Treasury
• LocatEd (then an arms-length body of the Department for Education).
During the same period, HMRC has received inward secondees from:
• the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
• Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP)
• Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
• Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
The VOA received inward secondees from:
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
• Department for Transport (DfT)
• HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
• Home Office (HO)
• Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
• Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
• Food Standards Agency (FSA)
• HM Land Registry
• Ministry of Defence (MOD)
• Legal Aid Agency
• HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS)
• HM Treasury
• LocatED
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing transitional protections for members of the Police Pension Scheme who received pension benefit quotations before 2015.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pension benefit quotations are estimates based on the information available and the legislative framework in force at the time they are issued. Entitlement to pension benefits is determined in accordance with the relevant pension scheme regulations.
Transitional protection arrangements were put in place with the introduction of the 2015 police pension scheme to apply to those closest to retirement. These protections were found to be discriminatory to younger members and a remedy was put in place which came into force from 1 October 2023.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Police Pension Scheme commutation factors introduced in 2026 on officers with confirmed retirement dates.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the response given to UIN 5163 on the 3rd June 2026.