Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 63361 on Floods: Huntingdon; what works the Environment Agency will undertake on the St Ives Staunch Sluice in the next two years.

A project is currently underway to ensure that the Environment Agency (EA) is able to maintain river levels for navigation. There is £2 million available for this work across two financial years 2025/26 and 2026/27. The full scope of the works has yet to be determined but the EA will continue to provide updates via their website, here: St Ives and Brownshill Staunch Sluices Information Page - Environment Agency - Citizen Space.

How many and what proportion of serving officers from Cambridgeshire constabulary's rural crime action team are have been included within the number of new officers for Cambridgeshire under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

Our approach to delivery in 2025/25, which will be year 1 of a 4-year programme, is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible, and can be adapted to the local context and the varied crime demands a force faces. The precise workforce mix proposed in 2025/26 was therefore a local decision.All forces, including Cambridgeshire Constabulary, have agreed neighbourhood policing delivery plans. Cambridgeshire Constabulary has been allocated £2,065,069 and will deliver an increase of 30 police officers, 7 PCSOs and 13 special constables by 31 March 2026. Force-level recruitment projections are also published here: Neighbourhood policing grant allocations and projections: 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK.Additionally, this financial year we are providing Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit. The unit aims to help police forces tackle rural crime priorities through the provision of specialist operational support, as well as through sharing best practice and encouraging regional and national approaches to tackling rural crime.

How much has been paid in compensatory (a) constraint payments and (b) balancing payments to operators of solar power generating facilities following switch-off orders issued by the National Energy System Operator since 5 July 2024.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system, which includes managing constraints. Constraint payments are part of Balancing Use of System charges, which are the costs incurred to balance the supply and demand of the grid. NESO publishes total balancing costs here, and more detail on specific bids and offers can be found by Elexon here. The Government is working to reduce constraints and improve energy security and resilience by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July to Question 63361 on Floods: Huntingdon, if will she publish the (a) hydraulic modelling and (b) real-world data from flood events relating to the St Ives Staunch Sluice.

Information on the Environment Agency’s work on the St Ives Staunch Sluice structure is publicised online here: St Ives and Brownshill Staunch Sluices Information Page - Environment Agency - Citizen Space This page and Frequently Asked Questions included within it, contains this information and guidance on how to request the detailed hydraulic modelling report for anyone who wishes to review it. The local Environment Agency team have been providing this information as and when requested by any interested party.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 62853 on National Security: Reviews, when he plans to introduce the State Threats Proscription-like Tool.

Following a review of state threats and terrorism legislation by Jonathan Hall KC, the Home Secretary pledged to take forward his recommendations.This included a proscription-style tool to tackle state-based security threats in the UK. The Home Secretary has committed to introduce legislation to this effect as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 63361 on Floods: Huntingdon, what the condition is of the St Ives Staunch Sluice.

The Environment Agency will continue to provide updates via their website which is here: St Ives and Brownshill Staunch Sluices Information Page - Environment Agency - Citizen Space.

What the scope of Project ASGARD is.

ASGARD is working to deliver a step change in lethality for land forces through a software-defined, network enabled, targeting web that will directly link into the Defence Targeting web, driving targeting at a rate unmatched through traditional processes.

What the scope of Project WAVELL is.

Project Wavell is the Army’s means to deliver force development transformation to 2030 and beyond towards an Army designed and organised for high-intensity warfighting. This is being implemented through an incremental approach that sequences delivery against the changing operational demand.

With reference to his Department's news story entitled British Army to increase lethality over the next decade while Royal Navy steps up innovation in NATO, published on 5 June 2025, what metrics will be used to assess the Army’s baseline for its current lethality; and what the level of each metric will be in order for the Army to have achieved its target of increasing lethality ten-fold.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry gave him on 12 June 2025, to Question 57781.

How many switch-off orders have been issued to solar power generating facilities by the National Energy System Operator since 5 July 2024.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system, which includes managing constraints. NESO publishes total balancing costs. Constraints are a natural part of operating an efficient electricity system and electricity systems around the world use the constraint payment model. Government is working to reduce constraints and improve energy security and resilience by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.

How many EHCPs were issued in Cambridgeshire in each year between 2014-15 and 2024-25 inclusive.

Information on the number of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued by Cambridgeshire is available as part of the statistical release which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025.This includes information at a local authority level and covers the calendar years from 2019 to 2024. Information for earlier years is available as part of the 2024 edition of the publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2024.

Whether a Best Start Family Hub will be located within the (a) Huntingdon constituency and (b) Huntingdonshire District Council local authority area.

Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and thrive is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission.We will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education. We will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities, can access it. These hubs will be open to all families but will be located in disadvantaged communities where support is most needed, ensuring services are both inclusive and targeted.

How many applications for the Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund were made in Cambridgeshire in each year between 2014-15 and 2024-25 inclusive.

Since the 2017/18 financial year, all local authorities have been required to have a special educational needs inclusion fund (SENIF) for all eligible children for the entitlements and who have special educational needs.Local authorities should establish their SENIFs using funding from the early years block and/or the high needs block of their dedicated schools grant, considering pressures on high needs and early years budgets locally.The department gives local authorities the autonomy to set SENIF budgets and to decide on eligibility criteria locally, as they are best placed to meet local need. The department does not collect information on how many applications are made to local authorities.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of renewing the Air Tanker refuelling contract, in the context of the agreement to buy 12 F-35A jets.

Future national air-to-air refuelling options will be considered as part of the Defence Investment Plan, and in subsequent force development work.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 63964 on India: F-35 Aircraft, how many personnel have been required to recover the F-35B from India; and what the cost to the public purse was for removing the wings and flying the plane back to the UK as cargo.

An engineering team of less than ten personnel has deployed from the UK with a spares package. We are developing options for recovering the aircraft with Air-to-Air refuelling support once the repairs are complete. All flights will be taken from the annual budgeted flying hours for the respective fleets and therefore come at no additional cost.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of a replacement to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

The Immigration White paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues including refugee sponsorship and resettlement, further details of which will be set out in due course.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of a replacement to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy.

Since ARAP launched in 2021, the Government has relocated over 34,000 individuals under the Afghan Resettlement Programme. As over 95% of all ARAP applications considered so far have been found ineligible, ARAP is considered to have fulfilled its original objectives. The Government closed the ARAP and ACRS schemes to new applicants on 1 July 2025. There are currently no plans to develop a replacement for ARAP.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of a high altitude nuclear explosion on the UK.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continually works across government to understand, deter, and where possible mitigate, the impact of a nuclear attack on the UK. As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the Cabinet Office led Home Defence Programme will consider the impact of a range of threats to the UK and how they could be mitigated.The MOD routinely tests the nuclear survivability, including Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse survivability, of its critical capabilities to understand the ability of our armed forces to operate in a nuclear environment. Due to operational security, we can not provide details on the outcomes of these tests.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 62858 on HMS Protector: Atlantic Ocean, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the modernisation of the Russian submarine fleet on national security.

As stated in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), there is a persistent and growing underwater threat to the UK and NATO from a modernising Russian submarine force. We cannot disclose further details for operational security reasons. The SDR endorsed Atlantic Bastion, which is the Royal Navy's plan to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and NATO against this threat. All capability requirements to deliver the SDR vision are being considered as part of the Defence Investment Plan, to be published in autumn 2025.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63169 on MBR Acres, what support his Department is providing to MBR.

Due to national security concerns, I cannot provide more detailed information.