Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

With reference to the Modern Industrial Strategy, what recent progress he has made in delivering the STEP prototype fusion power station in West Burton.

The STEP prototype fusion powerplant will be delivered by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. (UKIFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), itself sponsored by DESNZ and fully owned by the UK Government. STEP will be delivered in several phases. The first has been completed producing the powerplant concept design, site selection (West Burton) and identifying the appropriate regulatory framework. Site characterisation is ongoing, and a live tender is underway to select industrial partners to work on the plant with UKIFS, and Fusion R&D Partner UKAEA.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, which energy infrastructure projects will receive quicker pre-application periods from the reduction in consultation requirements.

The Government is currently consulting on proposals to streamline the infrastructure planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.Our reforms aim to ensure the system is flexible, proportionate, and responsive to Government priorities and build on proposals in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that could reduce the typical time spent in pre-application by up to 12 months. Subject to passage of the Bill this would apply to all projects seeking development consent under the Planning Act 2008.Once the consultation closes on 27 October 2025, the Government will carefully analyse all responses received to shape the final policy decisions and any legislative changes.

How many Afghans who (a) worked for British forces and (b) are dependents of people who worked for British forces were brought to the United Kingdom via the Afghan Response Route.

Approximately 4,500 people have been relocated or are in transit to the UK via the ARR (900 principal applicants and 3,600 eligible family members). ARR eligibility was only granted for those individuals who were previously thought to be at highest risk of targeting by the Taleban as a result of their personal details being included in the February 2022 data incident under the previous Government.. It is not possible to provide a breakdown of relocation figures by job role, including those who worked directly for British Forces, at this time.

What the responsibilities are of the National Situation Centre.

The National Situation Centre – established in 2021 – provides situational awareness for crisis response and national resilience. It is regarded internationally as a benchmark for Government use of data in crisis. The National Situation Centre is part of COBR. The National Situation Centre ensures that ministers and officials have access to relevant and timely data for decision making. More than 700 anonymised and aggregated data sets have been mapped or ingested and, at short notice, analysis can be produced for almost 90% of risks identified in the National Risk Register. Dashboards are hosted on a dedicated secure platform, built by the National Situation Centre, and are shared across government and with the devolved governments. A number of bespoke reporting tools have either been created or are under development to provide insight into the most serious risks. The National Situation Centre has also developed a “digital National Risk Register” platform to interrogate the impacts of a risk, or a number of risks. It allows users to see the impacts which the materialisation of a risk may cause and immediately determine which of those impacts are compounded if multiple risks were to occur concurrently. If a new pandemic were to emerge, we would be able to consider complex, concurrent scenarios in minutes. The National Situation Centre is also responsible for sending Emergency Alerts to mobile phones, as part of the COBR process.

With reference to the UK-France one-in, one-out pilot scheme signed on 4 August 2025, what (a) security checks and (b) acceptance criteria are applied to asylum seekers accepted to the UK under the terms of the deal.

Applicants are required to meet eligibility criteria set out in published Immigration Rules and guidance and are subject to identity and security checks consistent with existing UK immigration processes.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of launching a defence growth deal in Huntingdon constituency.

On 8 September 2025, five Defence Growth Deals in Plymouth, South Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were announced. Should economic and fiscal conditions allow, the Government will consider launching more Defence Growth Deals across the UK.

What progress the Royal Navy has made on developing Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defence and Strike capability.

Progress has been made through enhancements to Air and Missile Defence and Strike capabilities for the Royal Navy (RN) of today, the effectiveness of which have been demonstrated on operations. These include the fielding of the Naval Strike Missile, Combat Management System upgrades under Project RECODE and continued progress in Laser Directed Energy Weapons. Looking ahead, the Future Air Dominance System (FADS) is a transformative multi-domain Royal Navy programme that will provide Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defence against the toughest of threats in the air and space domain, and Long-Range Precision Strike against the most difficult targets in air, land, and maritime domains. Work is continuing at pace to identify a preferred approach for the FADS with the RN and teams across defence working together on the operational problem statement and potential architectural solutions.

What the size was of the asylum application decision appeals backlog on 1 August 2025.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum claims awaiting an initial decision, is published in table Asy_D03 of the asylum detailed datasets. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relates to as at 30 June 2025.Data on the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) open caseload by case type is published in table FIA_4 of the ‘Tribunal Statistics’ by the Ministry of Justice. The latest data relates to 2024/25 Q4.

What the scope is of Project RECODE.

Project RECODE (Real Time Combat System Open Data Enablers) is a programme to maintain and modernise vital combat management systems and their shared infrastructure and networks, on Royal Navy (RN) vessels including Type 23 frigates, Type 45 destroyers, Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and Type 26 frigates. Combat management systems are the primary method for RN operators to interact with weapons and sensors and they support functions such as Situation Awareness, Tactical Picture Compilation, Threat Evaluation and Weapon Assignment and Navigation.

What the Royal Navy’s Mine Hunting Capability Block 1 operational capability is.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer gived on 23 July 2025 to Question 68744 to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr Rosindell).https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-07-17/68744

What steps he has taken to develop the Defence industrial base in order to rapidly scale lower-value and highly attritable autonomous collaborative platforms.

The Ministry of Defence is advancing the defence industrial base for autonomous collaborative platforms through initiatives like the Defence Industrial Strategy, Defence Tech Scaler, and strengthened industry partnerships.Clear strategies, including the RAF Autonomous Collaborative Platforms Strategy and Defence Drone Strategy, set standards, while projects like BriteStorm and StormShroud showcase progress.

How many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Between the 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025 the department lost 18,203 days to sickness absence. The average days lost per employee was 3.9.

What estimate he has made of the projected contribution of the Tempest Global Combat Air Programme to GDP.

The primary contribution of Defence to GDP is peace and security. There is no sustainable growth without peace, but the contribution GCAP makes to UK peace and security is not amenable to quantitative assessment. GCAP and the wider Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme provide a key element of the UK’s future defence posture. There are over 4,500 people working on the FCAS programme, with GCAP at its core, across the UK. The government is investing over £3 billion and industry has invested over £700 million to co-fund research and development, grow our world-class STEM skills, and develop new digital and industrial capabilities, supporting economic growth.

How many Commonwealth service-leavers have paid for visa applications for dependents since 5 July 2024.

All applications are submitted to the Home Office. The Ministry of Defence does not hold information about the number of applications submitted by Service personnel on discharge, or by their family members.

What progress his Department has made on developing an open-architecture app based combat management system interoperable across (a) the Army, (b) the Royal Navy, (c) the RAF and (d) UK Space Command.

There are several initiatives across Defence that relate to the development of Combat Management System (CMS). Examples of these initiatives are in ASGARD (Army), NEXUS (RAF) and the Digital Targeting Web (DTW - CSOC), though it is worth noting that each has developed and experimented with capabilities that fit specific uses cases that may not be aligned. Defence Digital have had stakeholder input in several of these but have not been solely responsible for any singular app development. Defence Digital is however, responsible for the Digital Backbone, accelerating military and business capabilities, delivering a resilient, multi-classification foundation of seamlessly integrated capabilities. It encourages reusability and enables easy access to data, all of which are managed, supported and battle ready. The mandating of architecture standards to industry and developers across Defence through digital.mod.uk ensures that any apps and services that are leveraged by the Digital Backbone can be integrated and interoperable across those that consume Backbone services.

What the outcome was of the recent trial by HMS Trent of the Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System.

The recent trials of the Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System (HVLAS) onboard HMS Trent was a success. Three days of rigorous testing through day and night landings by a Wildcat Helicopter has shown the technology to be effective. As a result, we plan to fit HMS Spey, another Batch 2 Offshore Patrol Vessel, with HVALS as she enters scheduled refit.

What progress the Royal Navy has made on developing the Common Anti-air Modular Missile.

The Common Anti-Air Modular Missile continues to be a cornerstone of Air Defence for both the Royal Navy and the British Army. It remains in service on Type 23 Frigates, with programmes commenced to allow operation on Type 45, Type 26 and Type 31 platforms. Software developments have continued to improve missile performance since its introduction in 2017. A mid-life refresh programme is due to start in 2029 to extend the munitions’ availability to both Services until the late 2040s.

Food and Rural Affairs, which public sector organisations are required to ensure that 50 per cent of their catering consists of British produce.

The Government’s firm ambition is that, whilst working within our legal constraints, half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. In support of this ambition, we published a new national procurement policy statement (NPPS) in February this year. The NPPS sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that we think high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet.

What progress the Royal Navy has made on Sea Viper Evolution.

Both Sea Viper Evolution Programmes continue to make progress. Capability One, the Royal Navy’s entry level Ballistic Missile Defence Capability, is expected to provide an initial capability from 2027. Capability Two, providing theatre level Ballistic Missile Defence, remains in the Assessment phase to inform future capability and investment choices.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what funding he has provided to the Cambridge x Manchester Innovation partnership.

Through Research England, we are providing almost £4.8 million over three years to support the Cambridge x Manchester Innovation Partnership. This exciting initiative brings together the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester, alongside local authorities and businesses, to strengthen relations within and between these regions’ innovation ecosystems.The partnership will pilot new approaches to place-to-place collaboration between ecosystems. This will share best practice, support start-ups and scale-ups to deliver jobs and opportunities, and stimulate investment into research and development, contributing directly to the delivery of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.