The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and Gov.uk.

Capita is under a firm mandate to restore full service delivery to standard contractual levels by the end of June 2026. We are actively exploring the use of all available commercial and contractual levers and continue to withhold milestone payments for missed transition deliverables. All options remain on the table if they fail to meet the June deadline.

Capita were initially instructed to prioritise and clear the most urgent cases such as Death in Service and Ill-Health during February and March. While Capita previously assured us that performance standards for Death in Service and Ill-Health were being met by mid-March, recent information continues to demonstrate unacceptable delays in some ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases. We have urgently escalated this to Capita, who are actively investigating the underlying data and reasons for these continued delays.

Around 25,000 members currently await pension quotations from Capita, including outstanding historical cases left unprocessed by the previous administrator. Whilst we have mandated that Capita restore service levels by the end of June 2026, putting accepted quotes into payment requires sequential administrative steps, meaning the first actual payments will commence around late August or September.

Capita has issued lump sum payments to 16,776 retired members awaiting their regular pensions, whilst the scheme continues to pay approximately 730,000 existing pensioners on time. To alleviate immediate hardship, employers have issued £14.2 million in Transitional Support Loans to 2,612 members, alongside interest-free bridging loans ranging from £5,000 to £20,000. Members will fully repay these bridging loans upon receipt of their formal pension payments.

The scheme will automatically pay interest on delayed benefits to protect members from financial loss. The statutory complaints process evaluates claims for financial loss, distress, and inconvenience on a case-by-case basis and is operated in strict accordance with the standards set by the Pensions Ombudsman.

We are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of people affected in the Poole constituency. Capita does not provide standard reporting on the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme on a geographical or constituency basis.

The Home Office publishes statistics on a quarterly basis detailing the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found in at Immigration system statistics data tables on GOV.UK: Asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support detailed datasets, year ending March 2026.

What steps he is taking to help improve response times to fires in Poole constituency.

I recognise the very real concerns that my hon. Friend raises, including heathland fires, flooding and seasonal traffic. The variable nature of those risks is exactly why such judgments must be informed by local fire and rescue authorities, using local risk and operational evidence. As he set out, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has received an 11.8% increase in core spending power, giving local services a stronger foundation. The Government are committed to wider reform to improve outcomes for the public, but it is not for central Government to intervene in local operational decisions.

My hon. Friend will know that Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has received an 11.8% increase in core spending power. Despite that, there are plans to merge Hamworthy fire station with the one in Poole. Not only will this increase response times, but it fails to take account of specific challenges in the area, such as flooding, heathland fires and seasonal increases in traffic. Will the Minister consider what more can be done to keep Hamworthy fire station open?

My hon. Friend will be aware that response standards and resource decisions are set locally by fire and rescue authorities, which understand their risks and communities best. We will continue working with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service to support the delivery of improved services for Poole through national reform, stable funding and stronger co-ordination.

At Autumn Budget 2025, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and decided to maintain rates at their current levels for 2026/27. Rent levels across Great Britian, were considered alongside other factors, such as welfare priorities and support currently available within the challenging fiscal context.

LHA rates are reviewed annually and future decisions on LHA will be taken in the context of the Government’s welfare priorities, and the fiscal context.

The new multi-year Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) gives councils more stable funding to support households in financial difficulty and to prevent crises before they occur. Renters facing a shortfall can apply for the CRF Housing Payment in England.

In December 2025, DCMS launched “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. This strategy will ensure every young person across the country, including in my honourable friend’s Poole constituency, has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS.

We are currently designing the funding and programmes, with input from a wide range of stakeholders and will provide more information in due course. We are committed to working with areas of greatest need across England.

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.

We want every child, including those with additional needs, to be able to access a childcare setting where they can get the best start in life. The special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms we announced in February, will give early years settings the training, evidence-based tools and expert input they need to welcome children with diverse needs into their settings and provide the right support from day one. We are investing over £200 million to strengthen the SEND offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to join up support across early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams.

Alongside this, we will work with local authorities to strengthen their childcare sufficiency planning for children with SEND and improve data on the availability of suitable places. This will provide parents greater confidence that their children can access the early education and childcare they are entitled to.

We want every child, including those with additional needs, to be able to access a childcare setting where they can get the best start in life. The special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms we announced in February, will give early years settings the training, evidence-based tools and expert input they need to welcome children with diverse needs into their settings and provide the right support from day one. We are investing over £200 million to strengthen the SEND offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to join up support across early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams.

Alongside this, we will work with local authorities to strengthen their childcare sufficiency planning for children with SEND and improve data on the availability of suitable places. This will provide parents greater confidence that their children can access the early education and childcare they are entitled to.

The Schools White Paper launched Mission North East and Mission Coastal. The aim of the missions is to transform outcomes for children and young people and provide a blueprint for national change. The scope of Mission Coastal is still being developed.

Eight years on from the Grenfell tragedy, there is no justification for any building to remain unsafe. The Government has provided extensive funding and strong legal protections to shield leaseholders from historical building safety costs following Grenfell, including cladding remediation funds and strengthened leaseholder rights under the Building Safety Act.

In December 2024, Government launched the Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP) to fix buildings faster, identify those still at risk, and support residents. An update in July 2025 outlined progress and further steps to remove barriers and strengthen accountability.

As of December 2025, there are 30 buildings identified with unsafe cladding above 11m in the Poole constituency, of which 25 buildings have started or completed remediation works.

The Government remains committed to considering how to strengthen protections for leaseholders from current and future building safety issues, outside the scope of the leaseholder protections regime.

Plans to launch a new long-term Waking Watch Replacement Fund were announced as part of the RAP update in July 2025, and we plan to launch the new fund shortly.

In the RAP, we announced we would work with the insurance industry to consider options for possible government support. We are currently engaging with industry and will provide an update in due course. Following a public consultation, we are also proceeding with legislation to ban insurance commissions being passed to freeholders, landlords and managing agents at leaseholders’ expense, and replace these with a fair and transparent permitted fee structure.

As soon as parliamentary time allows, we will bring forward a new Remediation Bill to push the remediation of historic unsafe cladding further.

South Western Railway (SWR) is responsible for making sure its stations are well-maintained and meet the standards that passengers expect. Now SWR is in public ownership, it is working more closely with Network Rail and together jointly developing a strategic station plan to improve the station building and facilities. SWR is also planning a station adoption group with local stakeholders to improve the general look of the station.

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

The Department holds data on emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of respiratory condition for Poole and England, for activity from August 2024 to November 2025, although the data is provisional. The following table shows the number of emergency FAEs with a primary diagnosis of respiratory condition, for Poole and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, from August 2024 to November 2025:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at a regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Dorset is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E06000059/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

The Government has committed to delivering the three big shifts that our NHS needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.

Through our community diagnostic centres, we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.

Decisions on how fire and rescue services are run, including the number and locations of fire stations or crewing numbers, are for the local fire and rescue authority (FRA) and its Chief Fire Officer. The FRA is responsible for ensuring the needs and demands of their local community are met. They are responsible for directing their resources where they are needed most and in accordance with their Community Risk Management Plans (CRMPs).

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)’s latest published statistics on fire and rescue service (FRS) workforce numbers say that while the full time equivalent (FTE) number of firefighters has reduced by 0.5%, the total number of FRS staff (FTE) has increased by 0.6% on the previous year.

The Department does not hold information on the number of existing National Health Service workers, either nationally or in the Poole constituency, who could be affected by proposed changes to the rules on indefinite leave to remain.

All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age.

Estimates can be made using ONS 2021 Census Data on how many women born in the 1950s resided in each constituency in that year.

The Government understands the negative effects of unemployment can be particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings potential and life chances whilst also recognising their needs will vary depending on where they live and their own individual circumstances.

In Poole, Jobcentre teams already work closely with the Local Authority, employers, local colleges and training providers to give opportunities for young people to learn and earn. To support this, the Jobcentre offers various a range of local provisions, including Sector Based Work Academy Programmes, Mentoring Circles and Group Information Sessions, covering CV writing, application completion and job search upskilling. These initiatives help young people develop skills they need to enter employment. Our Employment and Partnership Team also hosts and attends job fairs, runs job and apprenticeship matching sessions and engages directly with employers to bring vacancies closer to young people. In addition, we have dedicated Youth Employment Coaches who provide personalised, tailored support to the most vulnerable young people.

This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships for young people, including a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. This investment will also fund an £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.

These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.

Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.

c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.

We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.