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 2,181–2,200 of 4,549 · this parliament
If he will set out the full scope of the Joint Crypt Key programme.
The Joint Crypt-Key Programme (JCKP) is Ministry of Defence-sponsored and delivered jointly with the National Cyber Security Centre. The information requested is being withheld as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of the UK Armed Forces.
What progress he has made on obtaining final approval of the Full Business Case for the E7 Wedgetail programme.
The Full Business Case was approved in June 2025.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the full capability is of the One HMG platform.
The One HMG Platform provides overseas offices, residential accommodation and services, such as transport and security, that enable His Majesty's Government to achieve its international objectives whilst providing value for money. The aim is that operations overseas should be co-located wherever possible. A Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the 35 other Government Departments, Arms-Length Bodies and Devolved Governments that operate on the Platform, allowing a physical presence at 280 posts around the world.
What the out-of-service dates are for each Royal Navy mine counter measures vessel.
All existing HUNT and SANDOWN-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels are planned for retirement within the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme, as part of the transition to advanced autonomous systems. For operational security reasons, the Royal Navy does not release the out of service dates of individual platforms.
Media and Sport, what progress she has made in delivering the EURO 2028 programme on (a) time and (b) budget.
The government continues to work with our football and government partners across the UK and Ireland, and with UEFA, to deliver a spectacular tournament with far-reaching social and economic benefits. As part of the government’s Plan for Change, we are investing more than £500 million in the upcoming Spending Review period to support the delivery of world class sporting events being held in the UK over the coming years, including UEFA EURO 2028. Regular financial updates on the budget will be provided in the lead up to the event, including via the DCMS Annual Report and Accounts.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 45 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what recent progress she has made on establishing a College of British Diplomacy.
The College will be launched in the coming months. In preparation, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) launched on 6 October a new pilot Global Network Programme, a flagship initiative of the forthcoming College. Further details will be confirmed in the usual way in due course.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 11 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what diplomatic steps she has taken with her Japanese counterpart to help shape International norms.
The Government is delivering this objective through both multilateral fora, including the World Trade Organisation and United Nations, and through bilateral engagement with a range of global partners, including Canada. The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to counterparts across the world about trade cooperation and security, to ensure we can deliver for the UK's future.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 45 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published in June 2025, CP 1338, what progress she has made on establishing a new Soft Power Council.
The Soft Power Council was launched on 15 January 2025. The Council is supporting the UK to take a more strategic approach to soft power, helping to build relationships, deepen trust, enhance our security and drive economic growth.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 11 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what diplomatic steps she has taken with her counterpart in Singapore to help shape International norms.
The Government is delivering this objective through both multilateral fora, including the World Trade Organisation and United Nations, and through bilateral engagement with a range of global partners, including Canada. The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to counterparts across the world about trade cooperation and security, to ensure we can deliver for the UK's future.
With reference to Box 12 page 15 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, updated on 8 July 2025, how do mission bays facilitate (a) rapid upgrades and (b) spiral development.
The Royal Navy has embraced the mission bay concept, which are spaces on our ships into which modular capabilities can be inserted quickly, easily and at very low cost. Mission bays offer the opportunity to support a standardised footprint capability module (be this a ‘pod’ or otherwise). This supports spiral development by narrowing the boundary (or scope) of any developments to this footprint, relying upon the initial standardisation specification. Therefore, rapid upgrades can be embedded within the platform through the much shorter route of exchanging the podded or modular component, rather than engaging in constructive re-design of a system already integrated into the platform.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 11 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what diplomatic steps she has taken with her Australian counterpart to help shape International norms.
The Government is delivering this objective through both multilateral fora, including the World Trade Organisation and United Nations, and through bilateral engagement with a range of global partners, including Canada. The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to counterparts across the world about trade cooperation and security, to ensure we can deliver for the UK's future.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 11 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what diplomatic steps she has taken with her counterparts in the Gulf states to help shape International norms.
The Government is delivering this objective through both multilateral fora, including the World Trade Organisation and United Nations, and through bilateral engagement with a range of global partners, including Canada. The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to counterparts across the world about trade cooperation and security, to ensure we can deliver for the UK's future.
With reference to page 127 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made on tackling barriers to interoperability between defence and the UK Intelligence Community.
Collaboration with partners across Government, including the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC), is essential to Defence outputs-both in routine activity and on operations. The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) sets a clear ambition to strengthen collaboration and interoperability, enabling delivery of the Integrated Force and the Digital Targeting Web. Defence is already interoperable with Government partners and capable of sharing data and intelligence. However, there are further opportunities to improve. To address this, multiple programmes are ongoing which aim to enhance interoperability and remove barriers to information sharing. These initiatives vary in maturity but are already being adopted across the MOD and UKIC and delivering measurable benefits.Additional work is underway to modernise data-handling approaches across National Security, leveraging technological advances to enable machine-speed sharing where appropriate. Combined with the MOD's broader technology modernisation programmes, these efforts will deliver improved capability, interoperability, and resilience across Defence and Government partners.
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the UK listing regime on the number of listings.
The Government has delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for all firms, including fintechs, to list and raise capital on UK markets. This includes overhauling the Prospectus regime and Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets. At Mansion House 2025, the Government published its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, setting out our ten-year plan for the UK to be the world’s centre of choice for financial services investment now and in 2035, with capital markets and fintech as core pillars of the strategy.
With reference to page 22 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what the composition is of the Joint Expeditionary Force.
The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) is a coalition of ten like-minded NATO nations: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK, which acts as Framework Nation. The JEF is a high-readiness multinational defence framework designed to respond rapidly to crises, particularly in the High North, North Atlantic, and the Baltic Sea Region. It operates flexibly, with no standing force elements, instead drawing national contributions on a case-by-case basis.
With reference to recommendation 38 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress he has made in delivering an integrated frigate force comprising of (a) crewed, (b) uncrewed and (c) autonomous platforms via a new partnership with industry.
The Royal Navy has made significant early progress in delivering an integrated frigate force comprising crewed, uncrewed, and autonomous platforms, in line with Recommendation 38 of SDR 25. This initiative is central to our future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability and is being pursued through a new, dynamic partnership with industry. The Type-26 Frigate remains the cornerstone of the RN’s crewed anti-submarine warfare capability plan and will be at the heart of the future fleet. The Atlantic Bastion programme operates with T26 at its centre and will secure the North Atlantic against subsurface threats for the UK and NATO. We have initiated trials of several uncrewed surface and sub-surface systems with the intent that uncrewed systems will integrate with Type 26 and other fleet assets.
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 he has made of the feasibility of participating in the Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile export market.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD), working closely with MBDA UK and the Meteor partner nations, supports the export of the Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile which is a strategically important capability manufactured and assembled in the UK. Currently, Meteor is integrated on the Eurofighter Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale combat air platforms and is operated by/on contract with 14 countries including the UK. The UK and Italy are working to integrate Meteor on F-35, which will be the most widely procured combat air platform in history. Additionally, the MOD is playing a key role in supporting Republic of Korea’s integration of Meteor on to its KF-21 aircraft. This resulted in a significant export sale of Meteor in 2023. All future UK BVRAAM development will be conducted with exportability as a fundamental requirement.
What the full scope is of Project Cortisone.
The vision for Programme CORTISONE is to deliver a sustainable, integrated, cohesive and enduring information capability to support the delivery of evidence-based medical and dental health and healthcare outputs. The scope of Programme CORTISONE to March 2028 is outlined below: An electronic healthcare record (EHR) capability for Primary healthcare, dentistry, intermediate care and mental health, in fixed overseas locations (FOSL) and deployed (air, land and sea) settingAn occupational health application capabilityA high-level design and ecosystem for interoperability within MOD and with NHS England, devolved nations and NATOProvision of data management for flat files, images and documentationProvision for data management and exploitation to support Defence Medical Services (DMS) and Defence Statistics across the DMS and operational data spaceLaboratory Information Management capability in the deployed settingPre-hospital and emergency, trauma and evacuation EHR capabilityReach back consultations for deployed operationsTriaging and remote consultations for FOSL
What progress he has made on dismantling HMS Swiftsure.
To date almost 550 tonnes of conventional waste have been removed and recycled from Swiftsure, with 90% of her total weight expected to be recycled in due course. In June 2025, Swiftsure’s fin was cut and removed, marking a key project milestone. This unique project is providing a safe, environmentally responsible and cost-effective solution for the recycling of the UK’s decommissioned nuclear fleet and supports 200 highly-skilled jobs in Rosyth.
With reference to page 121 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what rank commands the National Cyber Force.
As announced in the press release dated 16 October 2023, The National Cyber Force is commanded by a 2 star Military Officer, or a Civil Servant at SCS2 level. Currently, Commander National Cyber Force is Air Vice-Marshal Tim Neal-Hopes OBE.