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 2,961–2,980 of 4,549 · this parliament
What recent discussions his Department has had with their US counterparts on the recent trial of the Regent Craft Viceroy Seaglider by the US Marine Corps.
The Ministry of Defence engages routinely with the United States Department of Defense, the US Navy and the US Marine Corps on capability development and experimentation. We are aware of allied activity relating to seaglider technologies and wing-in-ground effect platforms and we keep all such emerging technologies under review.
By what date Taser 10 will be approved for use by Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
We are considering the results of independent testing and assessments of the Taser 10, before we take a decision on whether to approve it for police use.
How much the 4.2% police pay rise will cost each police force.
The Home Office does not hold paybill information for each police force. It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.The Home Office will provide £120m of additional funding in 2025/26 to police forces to help with the cost of the 2025 police pay award.
What is the planned in-service date of the Astraea A21 warhead.
As the hon. gentleman would understand, the expected out-of-service date for our current Mk4A nuclear warhead and the expected in-service date for Astraea are being withheld as release would prejudice national security.
What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of developing a wing-in-ground effect craft for (a) naval logistics and (b) Royal Marines amphibious assault.
The Ministry of Defence engages routinely with the United States Department of Defense, the US Navy and the US Marine Corps on capability development and experimentation. We are aware of allied activity relating to seaglider technologies and wing-in-ground effect platforms and we keep all such emerging technologies under review.
When the RAF will receive the first Typhoons with a European Common Radar System Mark 2 radar.
Delivery and integration of the European Common Radar System Mark 2 onto RAF Typhoon Tranche 3 aircraft, as part of the Eurofighter Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) programme, will commence by the end of this decade.
With reference to the Answer of 24 July 2025 to Question HL9397 on Typhoon Aircraft: Factories, what elements of the Typhoons ordered by Italy will be manufactured in the UK.
It is the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency who set the industrial sub-system production and workshare agreements across the partner nations. Through partner nation agreement, NETMA have set United Kingdom industrial workshare as 37%. Eurofighter GMBH manage its sub-system and component manufacturing orders from across the industrial base of each partner nation, in line with that workshare agreement percentage. Some of the major components that UK leads on the manufacturing include the front and rear fuselage, windscreen and canopy, fin and rudder, engine bay doors, foreplane and major avionics systems.
How many prison officers require stab vests due to the danger of the prisoners in their charge.
The previous Lord Chancellor announced in June the mandatory use of Protective Body Armour (PBA – also known as stab vests), for staff in specialist units, which includes Close Supervision Centres, Separation Centres and Segregation Units in the Long-Term High Security Estate. Following this announcement, 750 vests have been ordered.PBA is available for use when deemed necessary in prisons, including:Operational Response and Resilience Unit staff who wear protective body armour when deployed. This includes the National Tactical Response Group and the National Dog and Tactical Support Group staff.Staff mobilised under ‘Operation Tornado’, a national mutual aid plan by which prisons support one another in the event of a serious incident or occurrence requiring a reinforcement of staff, are issued with PBA as part of their personal protective equipment.Prison Officers are required to wear PBA, along with other Personal Protective Equipment, when they engage in the planned use of force or where safe systems of work for the management of high-risk prisoners dictates.
What progress he has made on the Teutates programme.
The TEUTATES programme is part of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE). It includes the ongoing development of an interim firing point at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston site. The Technology Development Centre is also at AWE Aldermaston and is now being repurposed to support other programmes, having originally been constructed for TEUTATES.As set out in the DNE 2025 Annual Update to Parliament published on 22 May, the first X-rays by the UK-supplied Induction Voltage Adder machine were fired at the EPURE hydrodynamics facility in November 2024, marking an important Treaty milestone.I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand that I am withholding cost estimates for the programme as release would prejudice international relations.
How the Borealis command, control and data processing system will help better (a) monitor and (b) protect UK satellites.
In March of this year, this Government announced a new £65 million deal with CGI UK to deliver for our national security by enhancing protection for our satellite technology that millions rely on, while boosting jobs and growth at home.Project BOREALIS will enhance the UK's ability to monitor and protect crucial space assets, which underpin the UK's security and prosperity, enabling us to navigate the oceans, keep our military personnel safe, monitor the climate, and forecast the weather.Project BOREALIS will integrate various data sources to improve the UK's ability to monitor and safeguard its space assets. It will also form the Command and Control architecture as the backbone for the National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC). BOREALIS will iteratively build the NSpOC's capability to support emerging requirements and missions. Project BOREALIS will combine and analyse data from various sources to make the UK less reliant on allies. It aims to create a secure and independent system that provides high-quality information to help protect the UK's interests in space. This project will provide UK military with a better understanding of the Space Domain, boosting the UK's space capabilities and delivering on the Government's Plan for Change.
Whether he plans to procure the General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGurdian for maritime ISR operations.
The Strategic Defence Review sets a path for the next decade and beyond to transform Defence and make the UK stronger both at home and abroad. The Government endorses the Review's vision and accepts all 62 recommendations. As referenced in recommendation 46, the provision of maritime surveillance capability for Protector is currently being considered. The implementation of the Review's recommendations is underway. We will develop a new 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.
What percentage increase in police pay did Cambridgeshire Constabulary budget for against the 4.2% pay increase awarded.
The Home Office does not hold paybill information for each police force. It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.The Home Office will provide £120m of additional funding in 2025/26 to police forces to help with the cost of the 2025 police pay award.
Whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on amending The Air Navigation Order 2016 to allow greater use of drones by police forces.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for ensuring that all UK aircraft operators must comply with the Air Navigation Order (ANO) 2016.In the use and deployment of drones, police forces must have due regard to the ANO which specifies the requirements and conduct drone operators must abide by to use drones in a manner which is both safe and does not unduly endanger or negatively impact members of the public.To support policing in developing a national drone capability which is both effective and safe, in FY2025/26, the Home Office has allocated £3.9m to national police-led programmes of work to drive standardisation and improve coordination in police drone operations to support public safety outcomes.Furthermore, to support development of these programmes and improve the safe and legal use of drones by policing, the Home Office and policing are currently working closely with the Department of Transport (DFT) and CAA. This is to ensure both compliance with the ANO whilst continuing to create an enabling environment that allows policing to increasingly use drones both innovatively and dynamically in the operational response to incidents.
What recent progress she has made on the electronic monitoring expansion programme.
The Electronic Monitoring Expansion programme was set up to expand the impact, use and efficiency of electronic monitoring (EM) as a tool for managing offenders in the community. All expansion initiatives to deliver new EM-related services have been delivered. The remaining project, to successfully transition delivery of the service to new suppliers (Serco and Allied Universal), is nearing completion with the majority of cases now transitioned to the new systems. Migration of the remaining cohort is underway and expected to complete in Autumn 2025.The EM expansion programme has funded evaluations into electronic monitoring and its pilots and has since published 6 research reports. An impact evaluation of the acquisitive crime pilot was published on 28 August 2025, and demonstrated offenders electronically monitored as part of the pilot were 20% less likely to reoffend within 12 months of release from prison. An impact evaluation of Radio Frequency EM as part of a community order found that adult offenders were significantly less likely to be reconvicted of another offence whilst being electronically monitored.
What progress he has made on the Ships Support project of the Naval Support Integrated Global Network programme.
The Naval Support Integrated Global Network (NSIGN) Programme continues to progress through the Assessment Phase with the NSIGN (Submarines) Project Outline Business Case (OBC) approved April 2025 and Full Business Case approval expected in early 2026. Concept work is progressing with the NSIGN(Ships) and NSIGN (Naval Bases) Projects seeking OBC approval early and mid-2026 respectively. The NSIGN Projects will enable the Ministry of Defence to contract for Submarine and enabling Naval Base services delivered through Clyde and Devonport in March 2026 and for Ships and wider Naval Base services from October 2028, with a parallel (and planned) extension of the Future Maritime Support Programme (FMSP) where required, for the period March 2026 to October 2028.
What level of access the Sovereign Base Area police in Cyprus has to Interpol databases.
The Sovereign Base Area police in Cyprus do not have direct access to INTERPOL databases. Access to INTERPOL databases is facilitated through the UK’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), which sits within the National Crime Agency (NCA).
What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Royal Air Force’s RAVEN programme in supporting dynamic operational networking.
The Royal Air Force's RAVEN programme is a modern network which enables secure information systems to be deployed quickly into temporary operating locations worldwide. RAVEN reduces deployment time, enabling rapid response for Agile Combat Employment, Transition to Conflict and other time-critical Tasks. It also cuts workforce demand to support operational deployments. RAVEN has been used effectively on several operations and exercises including NATO Enhanced Air Policing, Operation Highmast and Operation Shader.
What steps her Department is taking to prevent the exploitation of trade insurance policies by motorists to allow otherwise uninsured drivers to drive any vehicle on that policy.
All drivers must be insured to drive the vehicle they are using and for the purpose it is used for.The Government takes uninsured driving seriously. Police forces work closely with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) to tackle this. This is achieved through Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE), a scheme where MIB and DVLA collaborate to identify uninsured drivers and police enforcement on the road. There is also a national policing initiative known as Operation Tutelage to reduce the level of uninsured driving on our roads.
With reference to his Department's press release entitled New munitions factories and long-range weapons to back nearly 2000 jobs under Strategic Defence Review, published on 1 June 2025, what are the completion dates for the six new (a) munitions and (b) energetics factories.
The Strategic Defence Review committed to build at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is currently developing a plan to deliver this commitment alongside our wider Defence Industrial Strategy, delivering long-term investment to boost UK growth and generating skilled UK jobs and export opportunities. The MOD is carefully considering arrangements for those factories including potential locations, and more detail will be set out in due course. It is currently considered to be premature to discuss specific proposals or sites until the necessary preparatory work has concluded.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of widening the runway at RAF Akrotiri owing to the increased size of the aircraft that use the base.
No assessment has identified a current requirement to widen the runway at RAF Akrotiri. The existing runway infrastructure fully supports the current operational requirements of the station and remains compliant with the standards set out in the Military Aviation Authority's Regulatory Articles.