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 2,301–2,320 of 4,341 · this parliament
With reference to page 133 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in creating a single Recapitalisation Plan for Defence infrastructure.
A Recapitalisation Plan for Defence Infrastructure is currently being drafted with a target completion date of February 2026.
With reference to page 105 of the Strategic Defence Review, updated on 8 July 2025, if he will list the sites he has considered for the Royal Navy's training estate.
The Ministry of Defence keeps the Royal Navy’s training estate under regular review to ensure it continues to meet both current and future operational requirements. As part of the Strategic Defence Review, all elements of the training estate are being assessed to ensure the Navy can deliver modernised training, support the increased use of Reservists, and maintain the capacity to train allies and partners without impacting national priorities. The Royal Navy has a number of training establishments listed below:Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC)HMS Raleigh (RAL)Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTC)HMS Sultan (SUL)HMS Collingwood (CWD)HMS Yeovilton (YVL)HMS Culdrose (CUL)HM Naval Base Devonport
Which organisation will have responsibility for veteran-focused healthcare following the abolition of NHS England.
Following the announcement on the abolition of NHS England, work is progressing to develop the design and operating model for the new integrated organisation, and to plan for the smooth transfer of people, functions, and responsibilities from NHS England to the Department.The Department is committed to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, and these ongoing assessments will inform the programme as it progresses. NHS England will continue to undertake its statutory functions until parliamentary time allows for legislative changes to be made.Whilst this transformation takes place, the Department will ensure that it continues to evaluate impacts and work collaboratively to ensure continuity of care within veteran focussed services.
What pre-clinical animal testing was conducted prior to reaching the clinical vaccine trial stage for AHEAD-MERIT (BNT113).
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that all medicines and vaccines, including cancer vaccines, meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy before they are approved for use in humans. Non-clinical (also known as pre-clinical) studies for therapeutic cancer vaccines are performed in compliance with applicable International Council for Harmonisation guidance, the WHO guideline on Non-clinical Evaluation of Vaccines. Such studies must be conducted in compliance with the principles of Good Laboratory Practice and in accordance with the United Kingdom’s strict animal welfare legislation, including the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which requires that the use of animals in research is justified and that alternatives are considered wherever possible. The MHRA is not able to share confidential information on pre-clinical studies. A clinical trial may only proceed once the MHRA is satisfied that the data supports a reasonable expectation of safety and potential therapeutic benefit to participants.
With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on establishing national resilience goals.
The Government published the Resilience Action Plan on 8 July 2025 to set out its resilience strategy. It set out three core objectives to improve the UK’s resilience to the full range of risks: (1) continually assess how resilient the UK is in order to target interventions and resources; (2) enable the whole of society to take action to increase their resilience; and (3) strengthen the core public sector resilience system. These goals inform a series of activities to deliver greater resilience across the whole of society, as set out in the Resilience Action Plan.
With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made on issuing public communications on preparedness for risks.
The Government’s Resilience Action Plan has committed to do more to provide households with preparedness information. In September, the Prepare website was included in the message sent out to UK mobile phones as part of the Government’s test of the Emergency Alerts system. Mobile Network Operators have confirmed that the test of the Emergency Alert capability on 7th September reached 96% coverage in the UK. This represents an increase of 6% on the previous test, held in April 2023. We continue to work with our local and national partners, including organisations from the voluntary, community and faith sectors, to highlight the importance of preparing for risks. In wider communications activities, as part of Flood Action Week, running this year from 13th-19th October, the Environment Agency is encouraging people to prepare for flooding by taking proactive steps such as knowing their flood risk, preparing a flood plan, and signing up for flood warnings. The Government is currently considering what further public communications activities might support improvements to public preparedness for emergencies. For example, the Cabinet Office published the first annual UK Public Survey of Risk Perception, Resilience and Preparedness in July 2025, and the results will be used to inform the development of future public preparedness communications and to monitor trends.
With reference to recommendation 32 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, which senior Ministers sit on the National Security Council (Nuclear) committee.
Membership of the National Security Council (Nuclear) comprises the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Secretary of State for Defence, and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The membership is published on Gov.uk. It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
Communities and Local Government, how much of the Mayoral Recyclable Growth Fund will be available to the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
At the Spending Review the government announced that the new Mayoral Recyclable Growth Fund will be available to Mayors in the North and Midlands with an integrated settlement.
How many times the National Security Council (Nuclear) Committee has met since 4 July 2024.
Membership of the National Security Council (Nuclear) comprises the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Secretary of State for Defence, and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The membership is published on Gov.uk. It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
With reference to page 12 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made on (a) identifying, (b) nurturing and (c) protecting sovereign areas of strength in the UK’s (i) industrial, (ii) scientific and (iii) technological base.
The Government’s Industrial Strategy identified the frontier industries where the UK will prioritise its interventions across its 8 growth-driving sectors, which have all published dedicated sector plans developed with business and sector experts. Our Digital and Technology Sector Plan outlined how we will build sovereign capability in strategic technologies, including launching the Sovereign AI Unit with £500m in new funding, and investing £670m in Quantum computing to secure UK leadership. Across our industrial base, DBT’s newly established supply chain centre will review key inputs and determine where action such as domestic capability building is required to protect our strategic strengths.
What progress she has made on delivering the Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting and Analysis Service.
We are working with City of London Police to replace Action Fraud with a new andimproved national police reporting service for fraud and cyber crime. The new servicewill use the latest technology to improve reporting and support services for victims,providing far greater intelligence to policing for investigations, and allowing forgreater prevention and disruption at scale. This will support victims of fraud to comeforward, report instances of fraud, and know that their case will be dealt with properly.The first phase of this, a new crime and intelligence management system, wasintroduced in November 2024. This will improve the analysis of reports, the quality ofintelligence drawn from them, and how quickly they can be disseminated to policeforces for investigation.
Whether the Falcon programme will provide AI tools for use by his Department.
This Government is committed to harnessing Artificial Intelligence to increase productivity in Whitehall and across the public sector, so that it can better serve the public. As part of this, the Cabinet Office is actively working to include Artificial Intelligence provisions within the Falcon Programme.
With reference to page 25 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, whether she plans to add other countries to the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
As set out in the National Security Act 2023, the Secretary of State may make a specification under the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) where they consider it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.On China, no decision has been made in relation to specifying this country on the enhanced tier of FIRS.
With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on the 12-week consultation on updating definitions covering the 17 sensitive areas of the economy subject to mandatory notification under the National Security and Investment Act.
On 22 July 2025, the former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, published a 12-week consultation on updating the definitions of the 17 sensitive areas of the economy subject to mandatory notification requirements under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 through the Notifiable Acquisition Regulations. The consultation closed on 14 October. The Government is currently considering the feedback received and will publish a consultation response summarising responses and setting out the proposals that will be taken forward, including possible secondary legislation, in due course.
With reference to page 87 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress he has made on establishing the Home Defence Programme.
The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.
If he will make an estimate of the potential impact of the Falcon programme using Integrated Corporate Services on costs to the public purse of that programme.
The Falcon Programme is facilitating the Cabinet Office's transition from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. The initial strategy, commenced under the previous administration, involved the Cabinet Office developing a bespoke IT system for this migration. Under this Government, the Cabinet Office has since identified and commenced the implementation of a more cost-effective strategy to deliver the Falcon Programme, entailing a move to the existing government service of Integrated Corporate Services. This will save over £20 million of public money compared to the strategy set under the previous administration.
What recent progress he has made on implementing the Falcon programme.
The Falcon Programme is facilitating the Cabinet Office's transition from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. Falcon has completed the design and build of the platform working with Microsoft and the Integrated Corporate Services, and is now progressing into the delivery phase. Full migration of the Cabinet Office and its Arms Length Bodies is anticipated in 2026. This is part of the drive to improve the productivity, security and efficiency of systems in the Cabinet Office and across Whitehall.
With reference to page 25 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, how many people have been denied visas on the grounds that they would spread discord in the last 12 months.
The information requested on visa data is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.The Home Office is committed to countering extremism in all its forms where it divides communities and inflames tensions. Regardless of the worldview it draws from, if an ideology is causing harm by radicalising others into hatred, violence and extremism we will take action to prevent this and to safeguard susceptible individuals.It is a privilege to participate in and be a part of UK society. The Government is improving our range of powers to ensure those who abuse this privilege will be penalised. We have introduced a pilot to improve our ability to stop those intent on promoting extreme ideologies from traveling to the UK from overseas, and we are currently drafting proposed secondary legislation to further strengthen the Charity Commission’s powers around disqualification and discretionary powers.
With reference to page 36 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, whether he has made recent progress on developing capability under the defence partnership with India.
Defence Partnership India was formally launched in India at Aero India in February 2025. Since its inauguration there have been advancements in a range of capability areas across the air, maritime and land domains, as can be seen through the recent announcements from the Prime Minister’s visit to India earlier this month. For example, the Indian Army will procure THALES Lightweight Multirole Missiles through a Government-to-Government arrangement between our countries and both Prime Ministers were pleased to confirm the intent to finalise the Inter-Governmental agreement on cooperation in developing maritime electric propulsion systems to Indian Naval Platforms.
What assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing specific funding for Hinchingbrooke School to maintain Hinchingbrooke House.
The government has given a long-term commitment for capital investment through to the 2034/35 financial year to improve the condition of schools and colleges across England. We are investing almost £3 billion per year by the 2034/35 financial year in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.The Aces Academies Trust, the responsible body for Hinchingbrooke School, has been allocated £761,926 in capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to decide how to invest across its schools, based on their own prioritisation of need. Future allocations will be confirmed in due course.The government has also announced almost £20 billion of investment for the School Rebuilding Programme through to the 2034/35 financial year, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools across England within the existing programme, with a further 250 schools to be selected within the next two years. We plan to set out further details about the process for selecting additional schools later this year.