Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

What the responsibilities are of the National Situation Centre.

The National Situation Centre – established in 2021 – provides situational awareness for crisis response and national resilience. It is regarded internationally as a benchmark for Government use of data in crisis. The National Situation Centre is part of COBR. The National Situation Centre ensures that ministers and officials have access to relevant and timely data for decision making. More than 700 anonymised and aggregated data sets have been mapped or ingested and, at short notice, analysis can be produced for almost 90% of risks identified in the National Risk Register. Dashboards are hosted on a dedicated secure platform, built by the National Situation Centre, and are shared across government and with the devolved governments. A number of bespoke reporting tools have either been created or are under development to provide insight into the most serious risks. The National Situation Centre has also developed a “digital National Risk Register” platform to interrogate the impacts of a risk, or a number of risks. It allows users to see the impacts which the materialisation of a risk may cause and immediately determine which of those impacts are compounded if multiple risks were to occur concurrently. If a new pandemic were to emerge, we would be able to consider complex, concurrent scenarios in minutes. The National Situation Centre is also responsible for sending Emergency Alerts to mobile phones, as part of the COBR process.

How attendees at the College for National Security are selected.

Online training courses provided by the College for National Security are open to all civil servants, public servants and crown servants. Attendance at events held by the College are approved on a first come first served basis. For certain practitioner courses, a short application process is sometimes required. When required, these applications are anonymously evaluated based on the applicant’s experience, interest and ambition in the subject. The College will sometimes curate the learning groups to ensure a good mix of departments. As its learner base grows, the College will keep its systems under review.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what procurement reforms will his Department introduce to improve the process in order to secure government contracts.

The UK’s Procurement Act, introduced by the previous administration, came into force on 24 February 2025 alongside a National Procurement Policy Statement aligning procurement to this Government's missions.This Government also announced on 26 June 2025 a new 10-week consultation entitled Public Procurement - Growing British industry, jobs and skills.These reforms aim to go further to strengthen the UK’s economic resilience and support British businesses. Our proposals will protect supply chains, support our businesses, create good local jobs, and deliver greater value for taxpayers.We will set out our response and further measures shortly.

How many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: Sickness absence in the Civil Service - GOV.UK. The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, who will be responsible for the creating of a Biothreats Radar.

The Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre is responsible for creating the Biothreats Radar. The Radar brings together information on human, animal, and plant health risks to create a powerful, near real-time view of emerging biological threats and the impact they could have.

With reference to page 11 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what progress she has made in enhancing the resilience of critical national infrastructure.

The UK Government is committed to building the security and resilience of UK critical national infrastructure (CNI). On 8 July this year, the Government published the Resilience Action Plan, which sets out this government's strategic approach to increasing the UK's resilience against the risks the UK faces. To improve CNI resilience, UK Government has committed to continue delivery of CNI Knowledge Base - the UK government’s world-leading CNI mapping tool; map and fully use the complex network of reserved and devolved standards for CNI sectors, which are fundamental in holding industry to account and assuring the resilience of UK CNI; develop a new Cyber Resilience Index to build on existing cyber resilience measures to provide a cross-sector, holistic overview of cyber resilience for UK CNI; and raise resilience by using UK government resources, including the expertise of our National Technical Authorities (including National Cyber Security Centre and National Protective Security Authority), to provide world-leading advice on security and resilience best practice directly to businesses.

With reference to page 134 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made in establishing an infrastructure pillar within the Home Defence Programme.

As set out in the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review, the Cabinet Office led Home Defence Programme is developing greater preparedness against a changing international risk picture. Work to bolster the resilience of UK Critical National Infrastructure forms one strand of the wider programme. These areas are being developed in close cooperation with the MOD and Whitehall departments.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of super-injunctions by the Government on the reputation of Government.

The Government has been deeply concerned about the lack of transparency to Parliament and to the public as a result of the super-injunction about the data protection breach from February 2022 relating to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy. As the Secretary of State for Defence stated to the House on 15 July, the super-injunction was unprecedented. The Government looks forward to engaging with any forthcoming select committee inquiries.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66727 on Military Alliances: France, which Ministers will attend the first meeting.

The UK-France Nuclear Steering Group meetings will be convened and attended by senior government officials representing the UK Cabinet Office and the Presidency of the French republic as well as other Ministries and organisations. The Steering Group will regularly update senior UK and French Ministers on the items under discussion. Ministerial discussions between the UK and France will take place as required.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 66338 on George Cross Committee, when the decisions of the George Cross Committee are notified to applicants.

The George Cross Committee assesses all recommendations for civilian gallantry awards. The Committee's recommendations are submitted by the Prime Minister to The King, who awards the honour. If an award is recommended and subsequently approved, those nominated for gallantry awards are asked if they are willing to accept. Unlike the King’s Birthday and New Year Honours Lists, there is no set timeline for notification and publication of gallantry lists.

How many injunctions have been filed by government departments since 5 July 2024.

This information is not held by the Cabinet Office.

When the UK-France Nuclear Steering Group will be convened; and who the participants will be.

The UK France Nuclear Steering Group will be chaired by the Presidency of the Republic on the French side and by the Cabinet Office on the UK side. It will include participants from other Ministries and organisations as required. The first meeting will take place in the autumn.

When (a) was the most recent and (b) is the next scheduled meeting of the George Cross Committee.

The most recent George Cross Committee meeting took place on Thursday 13 March 2025. We do not release the dates of committee meetings ahead of time. This ensures minimising the chance of lobbying of committee members.

On what date (a) was the last and (b) is the next meeting of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat.

The UK Honours and awards system does not comprise a committee or administrative team known as the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, which was the previous name of the Honours and Memorialisation Secretariat. This team holds weekly team meetings.

On what date (a) was the last and (b) is the next meeting of the Honours and Awards Secretariat.

The UK Honours and awards system does not comprise a committee or administrative team known as the Honours and Awards Secretariat.

What the (a) proposed start date, (b) proposed completion date and (c) allocated budget is for the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II in St James's Park.

The final winning design for the National Memorial to Queen Elizabeth II, in St. James’s Park, will be unveiled in 2026, to coincide with what would have been Her late Majesty’s Centenary year. Construction will begin subject to approval of the winning design from The Prime Minister and The King and further information will be shared at the time.The provisional construction budget for the National Memorial in St. James’s Park has been confirmed by HM Government as within the range of £23m-46m excluding VAT. The final budget for the project will depend on the detail of the final design following its formal submission and once it has obtained planning permission, so cannot be given at this stage.Achieving value for money is a priority objective of the project and will be monitored closely throughout design development and the construction of the memorial.

What the recorded rate of theft from the person was in each of the last ten years.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th June is attached.

With reference to the press release entitled PM secures new agreement with EU to benefit British people, published on 19 May 2025, at what level the youth experience scheme will be (a) capped at and (b) time-limited to.

We have agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. We have agreed that any scheme will be time-limited and capped. We have also been clear that it should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes with countries like Australia and New Zealand. The exact parameters will be subject to negotiation, but any scheme will need to be in the UK’s national interests.

How many Cabinet Ministers have visited Huntingdon constituency and (a) informed and (b) not informed the hon. Member for Huntingdon of that visit in advance.

I refer the Hon Member to my previous answer [46065] given on 19 May.

Pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 46095 on Mortality Rates: Huntingdon, whether the Office for National Statistics plans to repeat the special exercise to calculate the standardised mortality ratio for people aged under 65 years old using current data.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 7th May is attached.