Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

How many pubs within the Huntingdon constituency are a) Free Houses and b) currently under a Pubco.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 26th January is attached.

Who is next in the Nuclear Firing Chain after the Prime Minister; and under what circumstances is the Prime Ministerial Directive superseded.

As the honourable Member should know and in line with the policy under successive governments, the most sensitive operational details of our continuous at sea deterrent are obviously not disclosed publicly.

What is the total cost of facility time in the latest period for which reporting is available, across all organisations, broken down by organisation, where that cost is paid by the public purse.

The most recent public-sector trade union facility time data, broken down by organisation, for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 is published here on .gov.uk.

If he will publish the outcome of his Department's internal investigation on Matthew Doyle before he was nominated for a peerage.

As a matter of policy we do not publish information relating to individuals' peerage nominations.

What estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the Government’s Digital ID scheme.

I refer the honourable Member to my answer to PQ93098.

What does he estimate the total cost of implementing digital ID cards to be across the a) resource departmental expenditure limit and b) capital departmental expenditure limit budgets.

Any costs in this Spending Review period will be met within existing settlements. The Government will run a public consultation in the new year.

If the High Value council tax surcharge in England will be paid from the public purse for the official residences at a) 10 Downing Street, b) 11 Downing Street, c) 1 Carlton Gardens, d) Dorneywood, e) Chequers, f) Chevening and e) the Admiralty House flat.

HVCTS will be paid by property owners not residents. Where official residences are owned by the state, any tax will be paid to the Exchequer at no overall cost to the taxpayer.

How many and what proportion of critical national infrastructure sites on the v-list are located in Cambridgeshire.

The UK Government does not publicly communicate the location or identity of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sites.

How many (a) letters and (b) emails the Prime Minister has received from the Member for Great Yarmouth.

All Members of Parliament are able to make representations on behalf of their constituents. It would not be appropriate to disclose the volume of correspondence of individual MPs.

Whether the proposed digital ID would be the only means of evidencing a person's right to work in the UK.

Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks by the end of this parliament.We will be consulting on the details of the programme in due course, including how to help employers of all sizes onboard onto the system and how they will validate the credential to prove an employee's right to work.

What steps his Department would expect employers to take to check a person's digital ID to validate evidence of a right to work.

Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks by the end of this parliament.We will be consulting on the details of the programme in due course, including how to help employers of all sizes onboard onto the system and how they will validate the credential to prove an employee's right to work.

With reference to page 55 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his planned timetable is for including the Office of Defence Exports within the GREAT campaign.

Defence is one of the key growth sectors identified by this government, and the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign (GREAT) has renewed its efforts to support defence exports. GREAT coordinates activities enabling government departments and overseas posts to deliver integrated local campaigns boosting British defence exports globally.

How many children were victims of (a) all forms of violent assault, (b) battery, (c) actual bodily harm and (d) grievous bodily harm by (i) age and (ii) gender in each year since 2015.

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

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Manchester Digital Campus project on national security.

The Government Property Agency is working with the Cabinet Office to progress a business case for the Manchester Digital Campus (“MDC”). Subject to final approval MDC will form a central component of this Government’s Digital, AI and Innovation Campus in Manchester and would build capacity benefitting multiple Government Missions.

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.

With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, when he plans to publish the report on the biological security strategy.

The Network of Biosecurity Centres will strengthen and formalise the strong existing collaborations between the UK Health Security Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. It will ensure we are better prepared for a crisis, can respond more effectively when an incident does happen, and deliver a more holistic, One Health and National Security approach to biological research.The Network will support the Centres’ development and operation, with investment in the laboratory facilities of more than £1bn over the next four years to ensure we have the capabilities we need. Initial steps will include agreeing collaboration priorities, such as operation standards and skills development.The Cabinet Office oversees implementation of the UK Biological Security Strategy. That includes ensuring we have the capabilities across government to protect the public from a spectrum of biological risks, no matter how they occur and no matter who or what they affect. Funding to tackle specific biological risks is based on the UK ‘Lead Government Department (LGD)’ model. Designated LGDs are responsible for leading work to identify serious risks, and ensuring that the right planning, response and recovery arrangements are in place - including the prioritisation of departmental spending to ensure the right capabilities are in place to mitigate risks, within allocated budgets. The UK Biological Security Strategy is clear that a thriving life sciences sector is key to our biological security. The government has committed £380 million to engineering biology and £2bn to life sciences over the spending review period. At the publication of the UK Biological Security Strategy in June 2023, we committed to update Parliament annually on the progress made to implement the Strategy. The government published its first UK Biosecurity Strategy Implementation report in July 2025, which sets out the range of short term commitments delivered. The report is available here.

With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, when the next national exercise to test whole-of-society preparedness will take place.

The Government’s Resilience Action Plan has committed to the delivery of the National Exercise Programme (NEP). This covers a range of whole-system risks, with the priority areas for testing informed by our assessment of cross-cutting and systemic vulnerabilities and capability gaps. The NEP sets out a timetable of annual Tier 1 exercises requiring a central response and cross-government coordination. Tier 1 exercises are scalable national exercises involving devolved governments and regional and local tier responders, as well as relevant industry engagement such as critical businesses and voluntary and community organisations. Government departments fully participate at senior official and ministerial levels. The national exercise for 2025 is a pandemic preparedness exercise led by the Department of Health and Social Care. It is the first of its kind in nearly a decade and is set to be the biggest in UK history. It aims to test our ability to respond to a pandemic arising from a novel infectious disease, involving all regions and nations of the UK and thousands of participants. It is currently underway, with every UK government department participating. As part of the National Exercise Programme future government exercises are being coordinated to test all levels of government and those from across society to increase preparedness across the whole of society.

With reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, how his Department plans to allocate funding to help tackle biological (a) incidents, (b) accidents and (c) attacks.

The Network of Biosecurity Centres will strengthen and formalise the strong existing collaborations between the UK Health Security Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. It will ensure we are better prepared for a crisis, can respond more effectively when an incident does happen, and deliver a more holistic, One Health and National Security approach to biological research.The Network will support the Centres’ development and operation, with investment in the laboratory facilities of more than £1bn over the next four years to ensure we have the capabilities we need. Initial steps will include agreeing collaboration priorities, such as operation standards and skills development.The Cabinet Office oversees implementation of the UK Biological Security Strategy. That includes ensuring we have the capabilities across government to protect the public from a spectrum of biological risks, no matter how they occur and no matter who or what they affect. Funding to tackle specific biological risks is based on the UK ‘Lead Government Department (LGD)’ model. Designated LGDs are responsible for leading work to identify serious risks, and ensuring that the right planning, response and recovery arrangements are in place - including the prioritisation of departmental spending to ensure the right capabilities are in place to mitigate risks, within allocated budgets. The UK Biological Security Strategy is clear that a thriving life sciences sector is key to our biological security. The government has committed £380 million to engineering biology and £2bn to life sciences over the spending review period. At the publication of the UK Biological Security Strategy in June 2023, we committed to update Parliament annually on the progress made to implement the Strategy. The government published its first UK Biosecurity Strategy Implementation report in July 2025, which sets out the range of short term commitments delivered. The report is available here.

With reference to page 90 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress has he made on codifying civilian assistance to military authorities in crisis and conflict.

Developing plans for civilian assistance to the military in a time of conflict is a key component of the Cabinet Offices Home Defence Programme (HDP). Working with the MoD and across Whitehall departments, the HDP will set a baseline understanding of the requirements of support that defence would need and how positions and roles may need to be backfilled in a conflict scenario. This work is ongoing.

With reference to page 90 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, whether UK plans are coherent with NATO planning.

The UK’s Home Defence planning is closely aligned and coherent with our obligations associated with NATO plans. The government takes a NATO first approach to defence planning and remains committed to our responsibilities in the alliance. Further details are set out in the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.