Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

With reference to page 128 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on driving improvements to (a) intelligence capability and (b) shared services within Military Intelligence Services.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), work to establish a single defence intelligence enterprise under the banner of 'Military Intelligence Services' (MIS) is continuing. Key stakeholders across Defence have been consulted, and draft proposals have been developed. This work has been executed through the existing structures of the Intelligence Function, which has already delivered enhanced coherence across several activities. The SDR sets out the requirement for further integration under the MIS, and the enterprise continues to develop as planned. Work on the Defence Intelligence Charter is ongoing, and Defence is aiming to publish the Charter by the end of 2025 however its publication will be coordinated with a wide range of Defence Reform activity and SDR delivery and thus is subject to change with dependencies across both. The Ministry of Defence's existing intelligence capabilities, incorporating Defence Intelligence (DI), PJHQ Joint Intelligence (J2), UK Special Forces J2, and Royal Navy, Army, RAF and Space Command intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance organisations) will operate under MIS with functional leadership provided by DI.

With reference to page 106 of the Strategic Defence Review, what progress he has made in developing long-range precision missiles capable of being fired from a carrier deck.

Project VANTAGE has recently been established as the maritime element of the UK’s One Way Effectors (OWE) programme, which are long-range uncrewed systems. VANTAGE is an iterative programme, with the first phase focussed on demonstrating OWE launch from a Royal Navy vessel. If successful, VANTAGE will look to exploit the demonstration in a core programme from a range of Royal Navy Vessels, including the Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers. Subsequent phases of VANTAGE will focus on spiral development of the capability, keeping pace with evolving threats and counter OWE systems, as well as the potential of a modular construct, with interchangeable launchers, effectors, munitions and sensor packages which would require minimal change to shipping to accommodate OWE.

Which police forces have access to the capabilities environment of the Tackling Organised Exploitation programme.

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 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 page 127 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made on increasing funding for into Defence Intelligence to build its (a) capability and (b) capacity.

Defence is taking forward a large range of projects and programmes aimed at improving defence intelligence capability. While we do not comment in detail on aspects of Defence capability that could be useful to adversaries, I can say that Defence is increasing the digitisation of the intelligence cycle and the information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) process. It is also increasing digital integration of the intelligence cycle to allow the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to better meet both today’s threats and optimise our capabilities for modern war fighting. The MOD continues to focus on integration across Government and with international partners to make us better aligned to address state threats and nontraditional actors which facilitates a renewed focus on warfare capability development. We continue to invest in intelligence hubs which bring together a range of centralised intelligence capabilities, allowing for the faster, more agile passage of intelligence. Defence is also implementing the new Military Intelligence Services, which will maximise existing intelligence capabilities across the MOD.

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 page 46 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published in June 2025, CP 1338, what progress she has made on reducing the cost of finance for defence companies.

As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, a Defence Finance and Investment Strategy will be published by early next year, explicitly looking at how barriers to investment in defence can be removed while making the sector more attractive for private investment.

With reference to page 130 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what the Defence Medical Services pressures are that have been caused by fragility of the global supply chain.

As outlined in the Strategic Defence Review, workforce shortages and the fragility of global supply chains are pressures for both Defence Medical Services and the National Health Service (NHS). The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly reviews its critical supply chains to identify and mitigate risks to defence capability. Work is ongoing between the MOD and the NHS to understand system-wide capacity and capability, potential future need and shared plans for delivery to meet Defence medical needs. Increasing resilience of UK medicines supply chains remains a priority for the Government.

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.

Innovation and Technology, what her responsibilities are as electromagnetic spectrum policy lead.

The Secretary of State holds overall responsibility for DSIT, the lead department for spectrum policy. Ofcom manages spectrum under two Acts of Parliament (the Communications Act 2003 and the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006).The Secretary of State directs Ofcom on matters of strategic importance to the Government and provides policy steers through levers including the Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for telecommunications and spectrum, which Ofcom must have regard for when exercising its functions.Ofcom also represents the UK at international negotiations on spectrum use, including the World Radio Conference (WRC), and the UK’s positions are informed by government through DSIT.

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.

How much capacity within the prison estate will be created via the deportation of foreign national offenders by 31 December 2025.

The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a priority of this Government. Deporting FNOs as quickly as possible protects the public, reduces pressures on prison capacity and lessens the associated expense to the taxpayer.From 5 July 2024 to 4 July 2025 there were 2,632 Early Removal Scheme (ERS) removals from prison, which is a 10% increase compared to the 2,385 in the same period 12 months prior.And this Government is going further: on 23 September we changed the law to reduce the time that FNOs must serve in prison before removal to 30% of their prison sentence. In steady state we expect this change will free up approximately 500 additional prison spaces a year.Additionally, the Sentencing Bill currently before Parliament proposes to remove the minimum time to serve requirement altogether so that FNOs can be eligible for deportation immediately after they are sentenced.The timing of when prison place savings will be realised from deporting FNOs is dependent on the Home Office’s rate of removals which will continue to be monitored over the coming months.

When she plans to launch a statutory consultation for East-West Rail Connection State 2 and 3.

East West Rail Company is planning further consultation in 2026. It is currently reviewing plans for this in line with the proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill reforms. A further update will be provided shortly.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 46 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published in June 2025, CP 1338, what progress she has made on strengthening the UK’s asymmetric position in sovereign AI capability.

As stated in the National Security Strategy 2025, the Government is delivering on its ambition for the UK to become world-leading in priority areas where we have a strategic edge, such as high-impact sectors like defence, healthcare, and computing. Through the £500 million-backed Sovereign AI Unit, we will combine equity investment with other levers to back British businesses to become national champions in critical domains. In addition, the UK is scaling sovereign compute to protect national interests and unlock growth. In July, DSIT published the Compute Roadmap that sets out how we will significantly bolster compute capacity by 2030. This builds on our commitment during the Spending Review to fund over £1bn to expand the AI Research Resource at least twentyfold by 2030, and up to £750 million for a new national supercomputer in Edinburgh.

With reference to page 127 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made on improving defence intelligence capabilities to (a) better meet today’s threats and (b) optimise for warfighting.

Defence is taking forward a large range of projects and programmes aimed at improving defence intelligence capability. While we do not comment in detail on aspects of Defence capability that could be useful to adversaries, I can say that Defence is increasing the digitisation of the intelligence cycle and the information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) process. It is also increasing digital integration of the intelligence cycle to allow the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to better meet both today’s threats and optimise our capabilities for modern war fighting. The MOD continues to focus on integration across Government and with international partners to make us better aligned to address state threats and nontraditional actors which facilitates a renewed focus on warfare capability development. We continue to invest in intelligence hubs which bring together a range of centralised intelligence capabilities, allowing for the faster, more agile passage of intelligence. Defence is also implementing the new Military Intelligence Services, which will maximise existing intelligence capabilities across the MOD.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on extending smart data initiatives into relevant industrial strategy sectors.

The Industrial Strategy committed £36 million to advance Smart Data across the economy, including in growth-driving sectors. The Department for Business and Trade’s forthcoming Smart Data strategy will outline how this investment will be used to support scheme development in priority sectors. Work is progressing at pace - the Financial Conduct Authority has launched a Smart Data Accelerator for Open Finance; the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is developing proposals for an energy scheme; and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has undertaken a call for evidence on Smart Data in digital markets.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the implementation of the European Train Control System on the East Coast Mainline on the feasibility of a new station at Alconbury Weald.

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 the data tables accompanying the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Annual Report 2024-25, published on 11 August 2025, what assessment she made of the reasons for the Infrastructure and Projects delivery confidence assessment rating of red for the 10K Additional Prison Places Estate Expansion Houseblocks and Refurbishment programme.

At the time of the report, both the Houseblocks and Refurbishments Programme and Category D Expansion Programme had been impacted by ISG, a supplier of prison building contracts, entering in administration in September 2024. The loss of the building contractor meant the programmes had no guaranteed route to delivery or cost certainty until the reprocurement of those contracts concluded, meaning a red assessment was appropriate at the time.As part of contingency plans in place, we have appointed a number of replacement constructors to take over projects that were previously with ISG. These contracts have been signed, and constructors are safely taking over sites and reviewing existing designs. Once this is complete, a programme will be developed to recommence delivery.We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are on track to do so by 2031; we have already delivered c.2,500 of these since taking office.

With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled AI action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what progress has he made in providing all staff with secure, enterprise-grade AI assistants by December 2025.

The Ministry of Justice is making strong progress in delivering secure, enterprise-grade AI tools to staff in line with the AI Action Plan for Justice. Through the Department’s AI for All initiative, all staff now have access to a secure AI assistant that supports day-to-day tasks such as drafting, summarising and document handling. Work is also under way to deploy advanced AI capabilities to assist with more complex functions, including research, data analysis and case-management support, helping to improve productivity, reduce administrative burden and enable staff to focus on higher-value work.

What the full scope is of the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme.

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.