Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

With reference to page 131 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, how much funding from his Department will be required to increase shared capacity with the Department of Health and Social Care.

There is a strong foundation of cross-Government working between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), including planning to meet the demands of warfighting and other strategic health emergencies. A series of workshops involving both the MOD and DHSC are exploring the UK’s ability to deal with various combat scenarios and the treatment of casualties. The MOD is also participating in DHSC’s cross-Government Exercise PEGASUS, the national tier 1 pandemic preparedness exercise set to assess the UK’s ability to respond to a pandemic. Both activities focus on understanding system-wide capacity and capability, potential future need and shared plans for delivery.

With reference to recommendation 48 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on reviewing (a) storage and (b) other standards to remove regulations.

I refer the hon. Member to the response my noble friend, the Lord Coaker, gave on 24 July to Question HL9399.I would also like to add that Astra, established in 2020, is the Royal Air Force's (RAF) approach to grassroots innovation. It focuses on adopting and adapting technology to address challenges, questioning restrictive policies and processes, and incrementally improving practices to enhance operational effectiveness. Over the past two years, Astra initiatives have delivered significant benefits, including saving approximately 250,000 workforce hours annually, while improving key areas such as aircraft availability, sustainability, and operational readiness. The Astra team, along with the rest of the RAF, remains fully committed to delivering Recommendation 48 of the Strategic Defence Review.

With reference to page 131 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on aligning with the NHS on (a) pay, (b) benefits and (c) terms and conditions.

The implementation of the Strategic Defence Review vision and recommendations is underway, including to ensure that pay and benefits for military medical personnel are competitive with civilian healthcare roles. The Ministry of Defence has worked to align benefits with those offered by the NHS, including pension schemes, allowances, and access to professional development opportunities. Defence personnel will benefit from unique offerings, such as subsidised accommodation, access to military facilities, and opportunities for operational experience. On terms and conditions, work is progressing to modernise terms and conditions to reflect NHS standards where appropriate. This includes exploring greater flexibility in working arrangements, improved leave policies, and support for work-life balance.

With reference to page 88 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on organising public engagement days.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 September 2025 to Question 70737 to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr James Cartlidge).

What recent progress he has made on migrating official tier users to the new MODNET platform.

16,000 devices (approx. 8%) have been enrolled to the new MODNET platform as at week commencing 6 October 2025. A site-by-site device migration is currently underway.

With reference to Box 12 page 105 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what is the composition of the Atlantic Bastion Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigate force.

Atlantic Bastion is a portfolio of programmes to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and in support of NATO against a range of underwater threats. It will develop a range of capabilities that enhance existing systems and deploy new platforms into the North Atlantic. It is separate from Baltic Sentry, which is a NATO led activity in the Baltic Sea to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure. The Royal Navy will be able to learn from Baltic Sentry and be able to share lessons from Bastion programmes with NATO allies. Through AUKUS Pillar 2, the nations are working together on an algorithm to support Maritime Patrol Aircraft processing systems. This work will inform future capability development of Bastion systems powered by AI to enhance acoustic detection. Capability options under Atlantic Bastion are submitted for consideration in the Defence Investment Plan. Options for capabilities that would be deployable from the Type 26 Frigate Force are included in these options.

With reference to page 117 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he he made on building on UK membership of (a) minilateral groupings and (b) the Combined Space Operations initiative to help ensure that NATO has an effective space policy.

The United Kingdom remains firmly committed to collaborating with international partners and allies through a range of fora, including the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative. Through these partnerships, we are building a shared understanding of evolving space threats, integrating space more effectively into defence operations, and pursuing interoperability and resilience across our defence space capabilities. As NATO continues to implement its space policy, the United Kingdom is actively contributing to these efforts by leveraging the expertise and insights gained through wider collaboration with international partners, many of whom are also NATO members. In doing so, the United Kingdom helps to shape discussions and drive progress on NATO’s space policy, strengthening the Alliance’s ability to address emerging challenges in an increasingly contested space environment.

With reference to page 120 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on fusing CyberEM activity in pursuit of (a) sovereign and (b) NATO operations.

The Ministry of Defence works closely with allies and partners on shared mission sets in preparing for future operational scenarios. The newly established 2 star Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (within Cyber and Specialist Operations Command) will drive the fusion of these efforts, with a particular emphasis on electromagnetic operations. This approach aims to ensure that insights from the Ukraine conflict are applied to both present and future sovereign and NATO strategy development and operational planning.

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 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 page 79 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what steps he is taking to uphold the Antarctic Treaty system.

Defence plays an important role in safeguarding UK interests in Antarctica, including the British Antarctic Territory and supporting UK roles and responsibilities to the Antarctic Treaty. The Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, HMS PROTECTOR, routinely deploys to the Antarctic Peninsula. Activities include: undertaking hydrographic surveys to improve the safety of navigation; facilitating inspections under the Antarctic Treaty; and assistance to the British Antarctic Survey and UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. RAF transport aircraft periodically deliver logistics to British Antarctic Survey through airdrops. The MOD is supporting the FCDO’s work to publish a UK Antarctic strategy by the end of the year, which will set the Government’s aims and ambitions for Antarctica for the next 10 years.

With reference to page 71 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on exploring options to support home ownership by service personnel.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) remains committed to supporting home ownership amongst Service personnel, and through the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) Scheme, has already supported thousands of personnel, and their families, to get on the property ladder. The Scheme has been intentionally designed to work with the inherent mobility of Service and already supports personnel transferring the outstanding FHTB balance to a new qualifying property on assignment, along with financial support for the legal costs of moving house. It also permits personnel to let out their property after an initial qualifying period when assigned to a location too far away to commute on a daily basis. FHTB enables Service personnel to borrow up to 50 per cent of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest-free, towards the purchase of a property. As the FHTB is a loan scheme, it is essentially self-funding, meaning that payments are funded from repayments. With regards to the Strategic Defence Review, Defence is still considering options to further support home ownership, in addition to potential enhancements to the FHTB scheme.

With reference to recommendation 55 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on establishing a government-wide review of handling processes for intelligence material.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State (Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry) on 6 September 2025 to question 70782.

With reference to page 91 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on mapping reservists’ (a) locations and (b) skills.

In support of the Strategic Defence Review recommendation to step-up engagement with the Strategic Reserve, the Military Strategic Headquarters, in partnership with the Military Commands, is leading work to gather and assure the relevant information on ex-Regular Service personnel who still hold a Strategic Reserve liability. This includes gathering updated contact and location details, and in future, skills information. We are improving our assurance of this information, such as through the UK exercise programme in coming years.

What recent progress he has made on implementing a new non-tidal maintenance berth as part of the Submarine Waterfront Infrastructure Future project.

The Submarine Waterfront Infrastructure Future (SWIF) programme will provide facilities to locations such as Devenport that include a new non-tidal maintenance berth in 5 Basin, a refurbished 10 Dock, and supporting buildings and services. Significant planning has been undertaken in preparation for build, including working with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and de-risking the site for construction. The construction phase of the berth has commenced, with the excavation of more than 18,000 cubic metres of material, which will form the 280-metre-long tunnel that will carry electrical, water, communications and air services vital to the nuclear safety and maintenance of berthed submarines. The berth wall will be formed from a series of precast concrete reinforced sections secured by rock anchor to provide the required stability; as a precursor to this work four trial anchors are currently under construction. Progress against 10 dock refurbishment includes trial build activity and the fabrication of a dockyard concrete batching plant, which will support the pace required during main dock construction. Significant volumes of concrete were also poured in the Spring this year, the biggest single pour in 20 years at the dockyard, to form the base of the caisson which seals the dock. The next phase of caisson construction activity is due to commence in the coming days.

With reference to page 128 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on aligning (a) architecture and (b) standards with the (i) defence-wide digital network, (ii) platforms and (iii) services held at above secret.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not comment on the detail of networks operating at Secret or above for reasons of national security. While the Strategic Defence Review 2025 outlines our ambition to align architecture and standards across defence digital capabilities, it would be inappropriate to disclose specific progress or integration details relating to Secret and Above Secret systems, platforms or services. In terms of standards, Defence Developer Services (D2S) is a containerised platform hosted on MODCloud which can be used to build, test, and deploy applications that can be a mix of own code, open-source and off-the-shelf solutions.

With reference to Box 12 page 105 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, updated on 8 July 2025, what the full scope is of Atlantic Bastion’s approach.

Atlantic Bastion is a portfolio of programmes to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and in support of NATO against a range of underwater threats. It will develop a range of capabilities that enhance existing systems and deploy new platforms into the North Atlantic. It is separate from Baltic Sentry, which is a NATO led activity in the Baltic Sea to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure. The Royal Navy will be able to learn from Baltic Sentry and be able to share lessons from Bastion programmes with NATO allies. Through AUKUS Pillar 2, the nations are working together on an algorithm to support Maritime Patrol Aircraft processing systems. This work will inform future capability development of Bastion systems powered by AI to enhance acoustic detection. Capability options under Atlantic Bastion are submitted for consideration in the Defence Investment Plan. Options for capabilities that would be deployable from the Type 26 Frigate Force are included in these options.

With reference to page 127 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what the barriers to interoperability are 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.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 45 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, how much funding her Department plans to provide for digital technologies in each of the next five years.

All details will be announced in the usual way in due course.

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.