Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“Erasmus+ will indeed provide tens of thousands of opportunities, particularly for young people. On energy, we are committed to strengthening our energy partnership with the EU to lower bills for households and businesses. On the negotiations my hon. Friend is talking about, I think everybody would see that strengthenin…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the UK and EU share many challenges. That is why the Government have agreed a new strategic partnership with the EU to bolster our shared resilience through deeper co-operation between the UK and the EU across defence, industry, politics and the wider economy—the foundations upon…”

“Yes, I agree. I will clearly have to make a judgment, but I do not intend to withdraw the team if that would result in a deterioration in service. I will obviously make that judgment very carefully, but having said that, I have been very clear about the June 2026 deadline for the restoration of the proper service under…”

“We are absolutely on the side of those pensioners. The important thing in the immediate term is the stabilisation of the service. That is why I will be holding Capita robustly to account on the recovery plan. I am afraid to say to my hon. Friend that I cannot help him with the results of Harlow Town!”

“It is absolutely essential that I make the point that each individual contract has to be considered on its own merits, which is exactly what I have been doing. On procurement by other Departments, one thing I am certainly doing is ensuring that the Cabinet Office shares the lessons learned from the recent transition of…”

“Yes, more than £7.2 million is available. I think the standardised mitigation letter was raised previously by another Member. I will certainly take that away and see what progress has been made.”

“The hon. Lady speaks powerfully about the very vulnerable situations in which her constituents find themselves, and I entirely share her concerns about the portal. I referred to the statistics on call times in my response to the shadow Minister, and to the average call time. I regularly monitor performance. Where there…”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend on the importance of bereavement payments, because they are made at such a vulnerable time in people’s lives. The House should be fully aware that I will hold Capita robustly to account on its various contracts. As I am sure that the House will appreciate, in the case of the civil…”

“I, too, welcome back Andy and thank him for his service. I say to my hon. Friend and those four constituents that what I have said in the recovery plan and what is part of the recovery plan is for the contractual level of service to be back by June. If that is not delivered, I reserve all rights under this contract wit…”

“On that final point, if the hon. Member could write to me about precisely what that situation is, I would be more than happy to look at it. Performance on MP correspondence is appalling, and I am not willing to tolerate it. Members across this House are speaking for their constituents who are in very vulnerable situati…”

“I, too, am grateful for the engagement with my hon. Friend, and we are certainly looking at how we learn the lessons of this matter. On her second point about the specific issue of compensation, a complaints procedure is available, as I think I have discussed with her previously, but there is also a very broad point he…”

“First of all, I say to my hon. Friend’s constituent, Andrew, that I am very sorry to hear about the loss of Katy, and I thank them for their decades of important service to Border Force. In order to take this case forward, it would probably be sensible for my hon. Friend to share the details in a meeting with the Minis…”

“As I said in my statement, there is a backlog of around 24,000 outstanding pension quotations. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the taxpayer not having to pick up the tab for Capita’s failures. There has been an offer from Capita to cover the costs of the surge team, which I will consider in my broad consid…”

“My hon. Friend is right that this is totally unacceptable, and that is why I have put in place the recovery plan and why the Cabinet Office is withholding milestone payments. On the four-hour wait, I would be very grateful if, with his constituent’s permission, he gave me the details, including the date, because I woul…”

“The surge team of about 140 officials who have gone into Capita are certainly looking at prioritising the most urgent and vulnerable cases. On the hon. Member’s specific case, I would be very grateful if she wrote directly to me about it, and I will certainly look at it.”

“I certainly echo what my right hon. Friend says about it being imperative that taxpayers do not foot the bill for what has gone wrong. On the different contracts, each obviously has to be considered on its own merits, but the House can be assured that on each of the contracts for which the Cabinet Office is responsible…”

“The situations that the hon. Gentleman’s constituents have faced is exactly why the dedicated recovery team was put in place. I will be holding Capita to account on the timetable in the recovery plan for restoring service by the end of June this year. On the cases he has raised, I would be very interested if he could w…”

“I can certainly give an assurance to Royal Mail pensioners, who may be worried about the uncertainty, that we will do all we can to ensure continuity of service. I certainly have confidence in my team, and the surge of about 140 officials into Capita has made a significant difference. Equally, I will clearly have to co…”

“We are very committed to delivering that manifesto commitment, and the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister will be setting out more about that in due course, following his speech earlier in the year. My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the poor performance under this contract. I have taken a decision to terminat…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the contract we inherited. On the hardship loans, we have already provided over £7.2 million in interest-free transitional support loans to more than 1,300 members, but that is in no sense a cap. We continue to proactively drive uptake, and I encourage all Members across the Hou…”