Every parliamentary written question tabled by Ben Obese-Jecty this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 2,201–2,220 of 4,341 · this parliament
Food and Rural Affairs, if she will list the local authorities his Department is working with in Cambridgeshire to deliver the NO2 Programme.
The Government is supporting 64 local authorities through the NO2 programme specifically to develop and implement measures to address their Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) exceedances in the shortest possible time. No local authorities in Cambridgeshire were identified as within scope of the NO2 programme.
With reference to page 134 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what locations are included within the Strategic Base.
A complete list of locations for the Strategic Base is not available at this time as this list is dependent on the detail in each specific outload’s requirements.
What assessment he has made of the importance of identifying sources of critical minerals as a domain of strategic competition.
The government recognises that identifying sources of critical minerals is of growing strategic importance, as reflected in the UK’s Industrial and National Security Strategies published this year. According to estimates from the International Energy Agency, global demand for critical minerals for clean energy is set to quadruple by 2040. Securing resilient supplies is essential for economic growth, national security, and the clean energy transition. The government will launch a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year, working with industry and international partners to ensure the UK remains competitive. This will build on the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre’s updated Criticality Assessment for the UK published last year.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people granted asylum who now reside in social housing since 5 July 2024.
My Department does not hold data on the number of people granted asylum who now reside in social housing since 5 July 2024.
What assessment he has made of the potential capability of the proposed Lockheed Martin F-55.
The Strategic Defence Review set out that Typhoon will be replaced by a sixth-generation jet, to sustain UK interests in this specialist sector and exploit emerging technology through partnerships such as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). We will develop a new Defence Investment Plan to take onboard the Review's vision and recommendations and turn them into a delivery plan.
With reference to the data tables accompanying the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Annual Report 2024-25, published on 11 August 2025, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of MOD Centre arbitration funding decisions on (a) St Kilda, (b) the Falkland Islands and (c) Gibraltar in the context of the Marshall programme.
Following Ministry of Defence Centre arbitration funding decisions on (a) St Kilda, (b) the Falkland Islands and (c) Gibraltar, Air HQ will clarify the requirements and ensure that any potential impact to those locations, in the context of the Marshall programme, are mitigated.
Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been allocated from the Affordable Homes Programme to (a) Huntingdonshire District Council and (b) Cambridgeshire since the establishment of that programme.
I refer the hon. Members to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771).
With reference to the National Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority Annual Report 2024/25, published on 11 August 2025, for what reasons the senior responsible officer delivery confidence assessment in the Police National Database programme has changed from amber to red.
The Police National Database is a live intelligence-sharing service. It provides a national view of 6.3 billion searchable records, 19.9m images and information from 198 systems/databases. It is used by 49 UK police forces and 56 Law enforcement agencies, and around 1.3m searches are made each month.The change in confidence rating from amber to red was primarily related to delays to a platform upgrade and transition to the cloud.The Home Office is currently considering its options for future delivery of the Police National Database transformation programme and further information will be issued once a decision has been taken.
Whether (a) projects and (b) programmes have been added to the Government Major Projects Portfolio since 5 July 2024.
Projects and programmes joining after 5th July 2024 and before end of March 2025 are included in the annual report 24/25. Any projects and programmes joining after March 2025 will be published in Summer 2026 in the annual report 25/26.
What progress he has made in delivering the Global Combat Ship programme.
The Ministry of Defence continues to work closely with BAE Systems (BAES) to ensure the Global Combat Ship (Type 26) programme remains on track to meet all user requirements and deliver world-class Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigates to replace the Type 23. Following the steel-cut ceremony for HMS Sheffield on 28 November 2024, five of the eight Type 26 frigates are now under construction on the Clyde. HMS Cardiff is structurally complete and has joined HMS Glasgow in the dry dock at Scotstoun for the outfitting phase. Unit and block assembly on HMS Belfast and HMS Birmingham continues. HMS Glasgow is forecast to achieve Initial Operating Capability in 2028, with construction of all eight frigates expected to be complete by the mid-2030s.
When work to implement the European Train Control System on the East Coast Mainline between Huntingdon and Kings Cross will be completed.
1) There are no current plans to construct a new East Coast Main Line (ECML) station at Alconbury Weald. The Department recognises the importance of the ECML and is starting work with Network Rail and industry stakeholders on development of a long-term strategy of investment for the route. 2) The following progress has been made on the East Coast Digital Programme. In May 2025, the first phase of the scheme was complete with the removal of conventional lineside signals, and all services using digital signalling on the Northern City Line (NCL) between Finsbury Park and Moorgate. This is the first no signals commuter railway in the country, and first of any kind since the early Cambrian Line pilot in 2011. 100,000 services have now operated on NCL using digital signalling. The infrastructure between Welwyn and Hitchin has been upgraded for the first European Train Control System (ETCS) section on the ECML. In line with the approach taken on NCL, the Welwyn to Hitchin section will initially operate as an overlay (i.e. able to operate with both conventional and digital signalling) to facilitate driver conversion training. The work is being led by Network Rail who, subject to the necessary assurances and regulatory processes, anticipate being able to begin driver train using digital signalling through that section from summer 2026. 3) Work to implement the ETCS on the East Coast Mainline between Huntingdon and Kings Cross is scheduled to be completed in the early 2030s.
With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled IA action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what progress he has made in linking offender data through (a) BOLD and (b) Data First programmes.
Using ‘Splink’ (Splink: MoJ’s open source library for probabilistic record linkage at scale - GOV.UK), the Department has made significant progress in linking offender data through both the BOLD and Data First programmes, as follows: Through BOLD: Data has been shared and linked across Government Departments and other agencies to produce 16 offender-related datasets linking cases and people across contact with the criminal courts, police, prisons, and probation services, drug treatment services, local authorities (in relation to homelessness) as well as assessments of offender risks and needs and child benefit. To date, these datasets have been used to address key critical evidence gaps in policy (leading to 8 offender-related analytical publications), and to develop new operational tools for frontline staff. Details on the BOLD programme and its outputs to date can be found at: Ministry of Justice: Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) - GOV.UK. More recently, BOLD have developed a software package, Laurium, which uses AI to extract structured insights from free-text data (like case notes), thereby extracting more value from linked datasets. Through Data First: The Ministry of Justice has linked and shared eight justice datasets, connecting cases and people across civil, family and criminal courts, prisons, and probation services, as well as assessments of offender risks and needs. These datasets are made available to accredited academic researchers via trusted research environments, facilitating powerful new research insights both within individual domains, where repeat service users can be identified for the first time, as well as on end-to-end cross justice system journeys. To date, this has resulted in over 50 academic projects. Details on Data First datasets and outputs to date can be found at: Ministry of Justice: Data First - GOV.UK.
With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled AI action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what progress he has made in establishing a (a) single and (b) secure identity for each individual within the criminal justice system.
We are continuing to explore the potential for a single, secure digital identity for each person interacting with the justice system. The Core Person Record service, which links existing data across courts, prisons and probation, is currently being piloted and represents an early step towards this ambition. Delivering a single, secure identity will form part of a wider programme of long-term transformation, supported by investment in data quality, interoperability and infrastructure across the justice system.
With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled AI action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what steps he is taking to enhance (a) AI leadership, (b) governance, (c) ethics, (d) data, (e) digital infrastructure and (f) commercial frameworks.
The Ministry of Justice’s AI Action Plan for Justice set out a series of bold, ambitious steps to promote the responsible use of AI tools across the department and the wider justice system. A Justice AI Unit headed up by a Chief AI Officer has been established. To embed ethics into our approach, we have developed a publicly accessible AI and Data Science Ethics Framework. This practical toolkit, created in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute, guides developers, policymakers, and decision-makers from inception through to deployment. We are also taking steps to improve the quality of our data to facilitate greater AI enablement. This includes linking offender data across systems through our BOLD and Data First programmes to improve public safety, rehabilitation, youth justice, prevention and victim services.The Ministry of Justice is working with existing suppliers to leverage their AI capabilities to support the delivery of services and will continue to explore the opportunities available in the supplier market that will support the delivery of the AI Action Plan. Through Procurement framework including Crown Commercial Services Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Spark DPS frameworks and leveraging the benefits of Memorandums of Understanding in place between HMG and supplier in the marketplace, the Ministry of Justice will develop AI capabilities for the future.
When access to the capabilities environment of the Tackling Organised Exploitation programme will be available to police forces.
As part of the response to the Casey Independent Audit of Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse the government has recently provided £426,000 of new funding to the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX). The new funding will enable TOEX to extend access to its suite of cutting-edge investigative apps and digital tools, stored within its secure capabilities environment, to all Home Office police forces in England and Wales.In total, the Home Office is providing TOEX over £9 million this year to increase law enforcement’s capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the TOEX Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools.The TOEX programme contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools following the Minister’s announcement is August. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, a further 12 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX are continuing to engage with further forces to support the expansion.
With reference to page 134 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in identifying mutually beneficial partnerships (a) across Government and (b) with the private sector.
Work to identify any opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships across Government and with the private sector, will be brought forward as part of the Recapitalisation Plan which has a target completion date of February 2026.
With reference to page 53 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many meetings of the Defence Growth Board she has chaired in 2025 to date.
The Chancellor has chaired one meeting of the Defence Growth Board in 2025 to date. The Defence Industrial Strategy, published on 8 September 2025, details how this government is making Defence an engine for growth, and the Chancellor and Defence Secretary are working closely to turn the strategy into action.
With reference to page 41 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published in June 2025, CP 1338, in which cases does the UK plan to become a more activist state willing to intervene more deeply in the economy.
The Government will not hesitate to intervene, where necessary, to protect our national security interests, and we will use the Defence Industrial Strategy to make Defence an engine for growth, backing British jobs, British industry and British innovation.
With reference to recommendation 47 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, when Protector will be integrated with P-8 Poseidon.
The exploration of the Maritime capability for Protector is being considered as part of the Defence Investment Plan to take onboard the Review's vision and recommendations and turn them into a delivery plan. We will ensure that this Plan is affordable, considers infrastructure and people, alongside capabilities and maximises the benefits of defence spending to grow the UK economy.
With reference to recommendation 47 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, when will Protector be integrated with Type-26 frigates.
The exploration of the Maritime capability for Protector is being considered as part of the Defence Investment Plan to take onboard the Review's vision and recommendations and turn them into a delivery plan. We will ensure that this Plan is affordable, considers infrastructure and people, alongside capabilities and maximises the benefits of defence spending to grow the UK economy.