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 2,501–2,520 of 4,549 · this parliament
With reference to page 134 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in identifying mutually beneficial partnerships (a) across Government and (b) with the private sector.
Work to identify any opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships across Government and with the private sector, will be brought forward as part of the Recapitalisation Plan which has a target completion date of February 2026.
Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made in delivering the Collections and Packaging Reforms programme.
The Government has passed or is on track to pass all the necessary legislation to deliver the Collection and Packaging Reforms Programme, and making strong progress on achieving our target of 65% recycling by 2035 in England, after a decade of stagnating recycling rates. For Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR), The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations came into effect on 1 January 2025 and on Friday 27 June 2025, PackUK confirmed 2025 base fees (fees for Year 1 of pEPR) for eight packaging material categories. Packaging producers liable under the regulations have been invoiced this month. In January 2025, the legislation for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England and Northern Ireland came into force. A new organisation called UK Deposit Management Organisation Ltd (UK DMO) will run the scheme, and were officially appointed in May 2025 (England & NI) and June 2025 (Scotland). UK DMO will engage regularly with shops, drinks companies, environmental groups, and the public to help design and run the scheme. Simpler Recycling has now come into effect for all workplaces with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees in England. This requires workplaces to separately recycle dry mixed recycling (plastic, metal, glass), paper and card, and food waste. By 31 March 2026, local authorities will be required to collect the core recyclable waste streams from all households in England. This includes introducing weekly food waste collections for all homes, unless a transitional arrangement applies (a transitional arrangement is where a local authority has agreed a later implementation date set in regulations). Micro-firms (workplaces with fewer than 10 employees), have until 31 March 2027 to comply, and plastic film collections from all households and workplaces will also be required by then. Finally, to help tackle the problem of illegal waste practices and outdated record-keeping, we are introducing mandatory digital waste tracking, which will become available for all permitted and licensed sites receiving waste in April 2026 and mandatory for permitted and licensed waste receiving sites from October 2026 in the first phase.
With reference to page 42 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what legislative proposals she plans to bring forward to enable the expansion of the National Wealth Fund’s investment scope to (a) capital-intensive projects, (b) businesses and (c) assets.
The government will bring forward primary legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to expand the NWF’s mandate beyond infrastructure, enabling it to invest into a wider range of capital-intensive projects, businesses and assets that support growth. Until then, the National Wealth Fund will continue to invest to support the delivery of the wider Industrial Strategy, including in defense. Its priority sectors, such as advanced manufacturing or digital and technology, have significant synergies with the defense sector.
Which (a) former bases and (b) other sites owned by his Department are categorised as disused and not earmarked for disposal within this Parliament.
There are no former bases or other sites owned by the Ministry of Defence that are disused and have no plan for disposal within this Parliament.
Is he will set out the (a) delivery and (b) in-service date for each Type 26 frigate.
The Type 26 programme remains on track to meet all user requirements and deliver eight world-class anti-submarine warfare frigates in time to replace the anti-submarine warfare Type 23s. All ships are expected to enter service between 2028 and 2035. Type 26 Frigates will allow the Royal Navy to continue to play a leading role in the anti-submarine theatre of the North Atlantic, providing a crucial output to both NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force.
How many Royal Air Force Poseidon P-8 aircraft have not been airworthy for more than 12 months.
There have been 2 occasions when a Poseidon MRA1 has not flown for more than 12 months due to maintenance: · ZP804 - 06/03/2024 to 04/09/2025· ZP807 - 12/07/2023 to 13/09/2024 This was mitigated through routine fleet management and maintenance planning frameworks.
With reference to page 126 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what units are included within the single Service-designated Special Operations Forces.
The Strategic Defence Review was clear that the current threat environment means Defence needs greater choice and resilience across the spectrum of military effects. Units such as the Army Rangers and the Commando Force will provide the special operations-capable forces required to improve the UK’s warfighting capabilities as well as helping fulfil our contribution to NATO’s Special Operations Taskforce 2026.
With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled AI action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what progress he has made in piloting AI (a) transcription and (b) summarisation tools in probation services in (i) Kent, (ii) Surrey, (iii) Sussex, and (iv) Wales.
The Ministry of Justice is piloting AI transcription and summarisation tools in probation services across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Wales to reduce administrative burdens and free up frontline staff time for direct engagement and case management. Early user feedback and evaluations have been positive. The findings will inform future decisions on wider deployment and investment across probation services.
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 she made of the reasons for the Infrastructure and Projects delivery confidence assessment rating of red for the 10K Additional Prison Places Estate Expansion Category D programme.
At the time of the report, both the Houseblocks and Refurbishments Programme and Category D Expansion Programme had been impacted by ISG, a supplier of prison building contracts, entering in administration in September 2024. The loss of the building contractor meant the programmes had no guaranteed route to delivery or cost certainty until the reprocurement of those contracts concluded, meaning a red assessment was appropriate at the time.As part of contingency plans in place, we have appointed a number of replacement constructors to take over projects that were previously with ISG. These contracts have been signed, and constructors are safely taking over sites and reviewing existing designs. Once this is complete, a programme will be developed to recommence delivery.We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are on track to do so by 2031; we have already delivered c.2,500 of these since taking office.
When she expects Project Reach to be completed.
Network Rail’s Reach partners are developing a detailed delivery plan and hope to have made significant improvements to coverage this control period (end of 2029).
Where can residents find the details of their named neighbourhood officer.
As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, every neighbourhood across England and Wales now has named and contactable neighbourhood officers, dedicated to addressing the issues that matter most to their communities.The public can find the details of their neighbourhood officers and how to contact them via their force website by typing in their postcode.
Communities and Local Government, whether he has issued guidance on the length of time over which Council Tax equalisation can take place.
The government set out the process for council tax equalisation in The Local Government (Structural Changes) (Finance) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/3022). These regulations set out equalisation must be completed no later than the beginning of the eighth financial year after restructuring. Councils are responsible for setting their own level of council tax, including how quickly council tax levels are equalised within this timeframe. While the government does not currently issue guidance on this, we will continue to review the FAQs published on the Local Government Association website regarding devolution and local government reorganisation.
With reference to page 114 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress he has made in enhancing protector with maritime (a) surveillance equipment and (b) connectivity.
The exploration of the Maritime capability for Protector is being considered as part of the Defence Investment Plan to take onboard the Review's vision and recommendations and turn them into a delivery plan. We will ensure that this Plan is affordable, considers infrastructure and people, alongside capabilities and maximises the benefits of defence spending to grow the UK economy.
How many named neighbourhood officers are in place in England and Wales.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee ensures that every neighbourhood has named, contactable officers, with details available via each local police force’s website.As part of the Guarantee, 3,000 additional officers and PCSOs will be deployed to neighbourhood policing teams across England and Wales by March 2026.
With reference to his Department's policy paper entitled AI action plan for justice, published on 31 July 2025, what his Department's projected completion date is for the roll out of Microsoft 365 Copilot to leadership judges.
The Judicial Office, an office of the Ministry of Justice that supports the judiciary carry out its duties, purchased 300 Copilot 365 licences for leadership judges in July 2025. Leadership judges include: the Lady Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls, Heads of Division, Senior President of Tribunals, Lords and Lady Justices of Appeal, High Court Presiders, Tribunal Presidents, Senior Circuit Judges, Resident Judges, Regional Judges, Tribunal Presidents, Designated Judges, Judicial College Directors of Training, Chief Coroner, and the Chief Magistrate.
With reference to the news story entitled Live Facial Recognition technology to catch high-harm offenders, published on 13 August 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the use of this capability from Bedfordshire to the tri-force area that includes Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The Home Office has funded the roll-out of ten live facial recognition (LFR) vans to seven host police forces, with Bedfordshire Police being one of those forces. Access to the LFR vans is available to all forces including Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, subject to operational need and local decision-making.No formal assessment is therefore needed by the government as the capability is already available to those forces should they choose to deploy it.
To which (a) law enforcement, (b) military, (c) Sovereign Base Area police and (d) other arms Length Bodies her Department plans to provide access to Police National Database application programming interfaces.
At present there is no direct application programming interface (API) between PND and the organisations mentioned. Data feeds to PND allow a national search of intelligence. The PND gives a national view of 6.3 billion searchable records, 19.9m images and information from 198 systems/databases. It is used by 49 UK police forces and 56 Law enforcement agencies. A set of processes and security protocols govern access by suitably authorised and vetted individuals.
Whether he plans to redefine the Armoured Cavalry 2025 Programme.
Any plans to redefine the Armoured Cavalry programme will be approved in accordance with extant Department procedures.
With reference to page 42 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, by when she expects the British Business Bank to (a) introduce tailored market approaches and (b) offer the £40 to £60 million to strategically important, capital-intensive businesses.
The British Business Bank will be able to deploy the funding it was allocated at Spending Review, and which was outlined in the Defence Industrial Strategy, from the beginning of the next financial year. As a commercially independent organisation the BBB will select its own investments, in line with the Mandate set by government.
With reference to page 53 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many meetings of the Defence Growth Board she has chaired in 2025 to date.
The Chancellor has chaired one meeting of the Defence Growth Board in 2025 to date. The Defence Industrial Strategy, published on 8 September 2025, details how this government is making Defence an engine for growth, and the Chancellor and Defence Secretary are working closely to turn the strategy into action.