April 2026

Olivia Blake voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)

Nadia Whittome voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)

Florence Eshalomi voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)

Christian Wakeford voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)

Rachel Hopkins voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)

I beg to move, That this House has considered the Army Reserve. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. It is also a pleasure to have the Minister in her place; she brings with her a distinguished service record and is recognised across the House as having a genuine commitment to our armed forces. I am sure that she, like me, recognises that the role of the Army Reserve has changed in recent years. When we debate this issue, we are not simply talking about training days with

I know that the hon. Member has a long-standing commitment to the cadets and the military in general. The cadets is a recognised pipeline into the armed forces, and I am sure the Minister recognises its importance in giving people their first taste of military experience. Again, I think that is an area of agreement. The first point I want to land is that in the first two years of this Government, the number of reservists has fallen overall, if we take the quarterly statistics published in April

That commitment is the most important point, but it can wait until after the hon. Member’s welcome intervention.

The hon. Member is right. I represent the rural constituency of North East Cambridgeshire, and I recognise the point that he raises; that plays into the issue of overall numbers and into the second point that I am coming on to, which is about the commitments for the existing numbers. Let me set out the crux of the issue. Media reports suggest that the MOD has been asked to make efficiency savings of £3.5 billion this year. My concern is that quite often, areas of the budget are locked down—they

I completely agree. The Government say they are committed to tackling things such as the cost of living; everyone in the House is very worried about the growth in youth unemployment and other pressures, and we want society to come together in more integrated ways. The armed forces are a unifier within society, so the hon. Gentleman’s points are extremely pertinent. Let us look at this key point of reserve service days in the context of what has happened in the first two years of the Labour Gover

Again, there is a lot of agreement in the House about these points. With that in mind, I will suggest a couple of potential solutions—I always think it is better to come with solutions than with problems—and ask the Minister for an update. First, it would be great to have a clear signal to units about reserve service days. Secondly, the Minister will be familiar with the case of Major Milroy, which goes to the issue of fairness. The Government have lost twice in tribunal. There was a debate on t

It is worth putting on the record that there are many good employers who recognise that. At the same time, we want to make it as easy as possible for those willing to be reservists to do so. I want to flag that and some of the consistency across Government. I will come on to some solutions. I talked about the context of the £3.5 billion efficiency savings this year—the money is next year, 2027—and the pressure of that. I remind Treasury colleagues that reserve pay and bounties is less than one q

Could the Minister perhaps write to me?

I say this very gently, because there is huge agreement on this, but I draw the Minister’s attention to the fact that the Public Accounts Committee, which has a majority of Labour members, says no movement is expected on that until the next decade—so not this Parliament. Does she agree on that, or does she think her colleagues are wrong?

Another problem we have in Northern Ireland is that many doctors are moving over to private care, which is leading to shortfalls of NHS doctors. Is that something we need to tackle to retain doctors in the NHS?

Order. I remind the hon. Member that this is not a chance for a second speech; it is just a winding-up speech.

I thank the hon. Member for securing this debate. Given that the foundation programme is typically the first full-time frontline post for doctors and often coincides with the period when they are most vulnerable to stress and burnout, does he agree that the Government should be doing more to address their workload?

5. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the rail network in Wales.

The UK Labour Government’s generational commitment to a £14 billion pipeline of rail projects in every part of Wales is a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when two Labour Governments work together. The investment from the spending review has resulted in upgrades at Cardiff West junction, which is set to double city line services, benefiting stations in my constituency. Incredibly, Plaid has promised to tear up this much-needed plan and start again. Will the Minister update the House o

Kim Leadbeater voted AYE on 'Pensions Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendments 15 to 24, 27, 30 to 34, 36, 38 to 42, 83 and 88, insist on Amendments 88A and 88C and propose amendments (a) to (j) in lieu of Amendment 88B' (272-149, passed)