Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

What estimate he has made of the number of North Korean military personnel who have become casualties during the conflict in Ukraine.

It is highly likely that DPRK forces sustained more than 6,000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Russian oblast of Kursk, amounting to more than half of the approximately 11,000 DPRK troops initially deployed to the Kursk region. Russia has since publicly announced a further 6,000 deminers and reconstruction workers to be deployed to the Kursk region of Russia.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) operational, (b) logistical and (c) legal constraints on the the ability of the Royal Navy to conduct (i) deterrence or (ii) interdiction operations against small boat migrant people-smuggling activities within UK territorial waters in the English Channel.

The Home Office, through the Border Security Command, is the lead Government Department responsible for tackling illegal migration and people‑smuggling in the English Channel. His Majesty’s Coastguard is responsible for search and rescue at sea. Their responses to the issue of small boat migration are underpinned by the UK’s legal obligations as a responsible maritime nation.

What United States Marine Corps aviation assets will operate from HMS Prince of Wales during Operation Firecrest.

Operation FIRECREST will be delivered by the United Kingdom's Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales. I am unable to provide further detail of Operation FIRECREST in order to maintain the Operational Security of His Majesty's Armed Forces.

Pursuant to the answer of 16 February 2026 to question 111934 on Armed Forces: Parachuting, which Parachute Regiment battalion the single battalion group will be based upon.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his Question 79685 on 17 October 2025.

What role the Callen-Lenz Nyan One-Way Effector will play in the Army’s deep fires capability.

The Army intends to field an initial One-Way Effector capability, including the Callen Lenz NYAN effector, as part of the UK Forces’ deep fires contribution on Operation CABRIT.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the approval of Italy’s €8.77 billion in initial funding on the progress of the Global Combat Air Programme.

All three trilateral partners are making significant investments in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), with the partnership itself designed to enhance affordability through shared development and delivery. The precise investment profiles of our international partners are matters for their respective Governments to comment on.

How many contracts have been awarded to Leonardo since 1 January 2026; and what the whole life value of those contracts is.

The Department has awarded two contracts to Leonardo, both commencing after 1 January 2026, with current total values of £4,795,802 and £24,963,000.

How many Basic Parachute Courses a) took place in 2024, b) took place in 2025 and c) are due to take place in 2026 at No 1 Parachute Training School, Brize Norton.

The number of Basic Parachute Courses (BPCs) by year at Brize Norton are as follows: 2024: 9 2025: 5 2026: 7 forecast

With reference to the speech by the Prime Minister at the Munich Security Conference on 14 February 2026, on which US capabilities he plans to decrease dependence.

The forthcoming Defence Investment Plan will set out how the UK will deliver the ambition of the Strategic Defence Review, ensuring we are integrated into NATO force structures by design but capable of acting as an integrated sovereign force when needed. This includes consideration of enabling capabilities such as munitions stockpiles, cyber resilience, space assets, and critical industrial capacity. While the UK-US defence relationship remains foundational to our defence and national security, and the UK derives great benefit from it, it is right that the UK continues to invest in a balanced mix of sovereign, bilateral and multilateral programmes. This ensures our Armed Forces can operate effectively with allies, lead when necessary, and maintain freedom of action in any future strategic environment.

With reference to the comments by the Minister for Youth Justice in the Sunday Times on 15 February 2026, what personal data will be accessed by the Ministry of Justice preventative analytics programme “to identify children who need targeted interventions to stop them falling into a life of crime”.

The Government is in the process of establishing a Preventative Analytics for Youth Justice Advisory Panel. As the Panel has not yet been established, no recommendations have been made on specific data sources or the sharing of data with youth justice partners for the purposes of support and safeguarding. At this early stage, we are not able to state the specific datasets which will be accessed. Exploratory work is required to identify what data would be useful for the purposes of prevention, where it is held, and how to use it responsibly, ethically, and legally. However, it is anticipated that the programme will draw on data already held by government departments, local youth justice services, and local authorities. This may include information about a child’s contact with the youth justice system, education, health services, social care, or other relevant services. Where data is shared between public authorities, we expect this will take place under established legal gateways for example the Digital Economy Act or the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Where additional permissions are required (e.g. due to the terms of a privacy notice), then such permissions will be sought. The Department will ensure appropriate governance arrangements are made and documented (e.g. through Data Protection Impact Assessments and Data Sharing Agreements). At this stage, we are not able to describe how the data will be used in the sense of defining specific processing techniques. The purpose of the advisory panel is to guide the development of these techniques in an effective, ethical, and legal manner. That said, the programme will not make automated decisions about individual children or replace professional judgement; rather it will provide evidence-based insights to help practitioners identify where interventions may be most effective. Strong safeguards will be sought to ensure fairness, transparency and protection against bias. The Government intends to establish the Advisory Panel on preventative analytics for youth justice by spring. Work is already underway and further details will be set out in due course.

How much of the Connect the Classroom funding will be spent on schools in the Huntingdon constituency.

The Renewal and Retrofit Programme, backed by £710 million to 2029/30, will be launched from April 2026 to improve the condition of school and college buildings and increase resilience to climate change so that buildings can last for decades and are net zero ready. This funding will also help protect more schools from flooding. The Programme will start with schools in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East, and will be expanded from 2027 to other regions in England. The department will set out further details in due course on how schools and colleges can join the Programme from 2027.We are providing £325 million in additional targeted investment for digital connectivity until 2029/30, including expanding the Connect the Classroom programme. To date, almost £600,000 of Connect the Classroom funding has been provided to schools in the Huntingdon constituency. Through 2026/27, Connect the Classroom will continue to support schools on the regional improvement for standards and excellence programme, with additional selection criteria to be announced in the summer.

Pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2026 to question 111268 on Ministry of Defence: Redundancy, how many civil service redundancies within his Department he plans to achieve through a) the targeted voluntary exit scheme and b) additional redundancies.

Applications for the voluntary exit scheme closed on 23 January 2026. This is not a redundancy process but provides eligible employees with the opportunity to leave the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on a voluntary basis. The scheme is targeted at specific in-scope groups, based on future organisational needs, protecting areas of growth and retaining skills and talent. As stated in my response to Question 111268, this exercise is ongoing and the number of exits will not be known until later in the year. The Ministry of Defence will look to avoid redundancies wherever possible. If this becomes unavoidable, this will follow full and meaningful consultation with affected employees and Trade Unions.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of a ceasefire in Ukraine on the UK’s ability to sustain commitments to a) Operation Firecrest, b) Operation Cabrit and c) the JEF commitment to Arctic Sentry.

Defence conducts continuous review of all current and planned commitments in accordance with established protocols, ensuring that each task can be fully and appropriately resourced by the single Services. This process incorporates dynamic, ongoing assessment and the allocation of resources as new requirements arise. Defence’s commitments relating to Ukraine have been appropriately resourced and deconflicted, with no identified concurrency risks affecting the Department’s ability to sustain planned outputs for Operation FIRECREST, Operation CABRIT, or the Joint Expeditionary Force contribution to ARCTIC SENTRY. As operational planning for the Ministry of Defence’s contribution to a ceasefire in Ukraine progresses, any additional requirements will be assessed, deconflicted, and resourced through established mechanisms to ensure Defence continues to deliver the highest standards of operational output.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to shotgun licensing will have on the time taken to process shotgun licence renewals in Cambridgeshire.

The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We will publish the consultation in due course.We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we intend to bring forward after the consultation, including on police firearms licensing departments, in the normal way.The issuing of firearms certificates, resourcing of firearms licensing teams and the efficiency of police forces, including the timeframe taken for processing shotgun licence renewals, is a matter for individual Chief Officers of Police and Police and Crime Commissioners. Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary work together as part of a tripartite arrangement intended to provide a consistent firearms licensing service across the three police force areas. The arrangements are led by Hertfordshire Constabulary and report to the Chief Constables of all three forces.

What the UK contribution is to Operation Firecrest.

Operation FIRECREST will be delivered by the United Kingdom's Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales. I am unable to provide further detail of Operation FIRECREST in order to maintain the Operational Security of His Majesty's Armed Forces.

How many meetings his Department has had with Leonardo since 1 January 2026.

Leonardo is one of Defence’s key suppliers and therefore Ministers and officials have consistently met with representatives from the company since 1 January 2026. The Department continues to have conversations at every level regarding current programmes and wider business interests across the UK, though the total number of meetings is not centrally recorded.

Pursuant to the answer of 16 February 2026 to question 111934 on Armed Forces: Parachuting, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the focus on a single battalion group on the number of Basic Parachute Courses available to Parachute Regiment soldiers.

The Strategic Defence Review position on military parachuting capabilities represents no change to the current Defence parachuting provision. Therefore, there is no anticipated change to the number of All Arms Pre-Parachute Selection courses or the Basic Parachute Course.

How many extradition requests have been a) received and b) accepted, from Category 2 Type B countries since 5th July 2024.

Between 5th July 2024 until today’s date UK Central Authority (UKCA) in the Home Office received 64 extradition requests from Category 2 Type B countries.We have understood your request in relation to having been ‘accepted’ as how many cases have been certified under s70 of the Extradition Act 2003 (the ‘Act’). Of the 64 requests received, 56 have been certified to date. Once a request has been certified it is sent to the courts, after which the request is subjected to a largely judicial process.Please note that all figures are from local management information and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2026 to question 109652 on Artificial Intelligence, what progress she has made on scaling onshore compute.

Compute is a critical enabler for AI development and scientific research. This Government is committed to scaling this essential infrastructure to accelerate innovation, drive economic growth and better support our public services.We are investing up to £2 billion in public compute through to 2030. This will deliver a new national supercomputer in Edinburgh and expand our AI Research Resource twentyfold by 2030 providing free access to compute for researchers, SMEs and the public sector.The UK has also established five AI Growth Zones, including the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone, announced this January. We will continue to work with these zones to secure them as the UK's AI powerhouses, as well as identifying new sites around the UK with the potential to become AI Growth Zones.

What he plans to commit to NATO’s Task Force X Baltic.

The UK is fully committed to NATO’s broader deterrence posture in the Baltic region, demonstrated through our significant contributions across air, maritime, and land domains. This includes our Forward Land Force commitment in Estonia, regular participation in NATO exercises, and involvement in maritime operations. We continue to work closely with our NATO Allies to regularly review and assess how best to allocate resources to ensure the greatest possible deterrent effect and to uphold the security of the Alliance.