Written questions by Cartlidge.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending to county councils the provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 on issuing closure notices in cases of illegal trading of tobacco and vaping products on the high street.

The closure power, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, enables police or local councils - including county councils where there is no district council - to close premises quickly which are being used to commit nuisance or disorder.The closure power, along with all the powers in the 2014 Act, is deliberately local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether its use is appropriate and meets the legal test in the specific circumstances.The global supply of illicit tobacco is significant and the high profit margins continue to attract organised criminal networks. HMRC are fully aware of this threat and take robust, coordinated action in response. Working in close partnership across government, we target production at its source, intercept illicit products at the border and in retail environments, and pursue and prosecute those involved in the illicit tobacco trade.Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco - GOV.UK sets out how HMRC, Border Force and partner agencies tackle illicit tobacco. It seeks to target loopholes at all stages of the supply chain, to keep ahead of the criminals. The strategy:sets out a new root and branch approach - which targets the demand for illicit trade (the consumers that criminals seek to exploit) as well as the supply (the criminals themselves).is supported by over £100 million new funding to boost HMRC and Border Force enforcement capability.establishes a new, cross-government Illicit Tobacco Taskforce – combining the operational, investigative and intelligence expertise of various agencies, and enhancing their ability to disrupt organised crime.National Trading Standards plays a key part in tackling illicit tobacco at a local level. It provides both a visible and tangible deterrent that organised criminality and anti-social behaviour surrounding the supply of illicit tobacco will not be tolerated. HMRC values the close working partnership it has with National Trading Standards through Operation CeCe and is committed to building on its success by increasing the level of funding available to Trading Standards. This means that we can have an even greater impact in tackling the illicit tobacco trade, undertaking more visits, creating more disruption, detecting and seizing more illicit product, tackling underage sales and reducing community harm.HMRC is progressing preparations for the 1 October 2026 introduction of Vaping Products Duty with a strong focus on compliance readiness and illicit market risk.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the enforcement powers available to county council Trading Standards services on tackling the sale of illegal tobacco and vaping products on the high street.

I refer the hon member to the answer on 27 October 2025 to UIN 84365 Electronic Cigarettes and Tobacco: Smuggling. Operation CeCe is a joint UK-wide initiative between HMRC and Trading Standards to target the illicit tobacco trade. Since it began in January 2021, the operation has removed more than 74 million illicit cigarettes, 19,750kg of hand-rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale [1]. In 2023 new sanctions were introduced to support the work that Trading Standards do at retail level. They allow Trading Standards to make a referral into HMRC in relation to their tobacco seizures. HMRC can then then investigate and issue civil sanctions, including penalties of up to £10,000. At Budget 2025, the Government set out its plans to tackle rogue retailers who breach tobacco and vape regulations, by taking the power in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco and vape products. This will strengthen enforcement and support legitimate businesses. The government is also legislating to introduce the Vaping Duty Stamps scheme from 1 October 2026, which requires all vaping products manufactured or imported into the UK to have a duty stamp on packaging so illicit products are immediately identifiable. [1] Over £1.4 million in penalties issued as crackdown on illegal tobacco accelerates

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his timetable to publish the Defence Investment Plan on defence capability.

Defence continues to manage its capabilities and programmes to ensure they are not unnecessarily impacted or delayed whilst the upcoming Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is developed. The Department is working flat out to deliver the DIP, which will be published as soon as possible. The DIP is the first time in 18 years Defence has completed a single, comprehensive review of programmes and is backed by the Government’s largest sustained increase in defence investment since the end of the Cold War, spending £270 billion on defence in this Parliament alone.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Britain's fighter jet fleet strengthened in £205 million boost for British jobs, published on 19 January 2026, when the full-scale production of the European Common Radar System Mk2 will begin.

On 13 June 2025 the Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed, during a visit to Leonardo in Edinburgh, that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) had released over £200 million of funding towards the production and integration of the innovative European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk2 radar for the RAF Typhoon. This commercial authority for Industry to start spending ahead of the full contract award was used to protect critical path activities whilst MOD and Industry negotiated the full contract. On 22 January 2026 the Secretary of State for Defence visited Leonardo in Edinburgh to confirm the award of the full production contract between the MOD and BAE Systems, Leonardo UK and Parker Meggitt, valued at £453 million. This contract is for the manufacture and delivery of 40 ECRS Mk2 Radars. Radar deliveries will support timescales to bring ECRS Mk2 into service with the RAF by the end of this decade.

What steps her Department has taken to help support Trading Standards services in Suffolk in responding to organised criminal activity linked to the sale of illegal tobacco and vaping products.

I refer the hon member to the answer on 27 October 2025 to UIN 84365 Electronic Cigarettes and Tobacco: Smuggling. Operation CeCe is a joint UK-wide initiative between HMRC and Trading Standards to target the illicit tobacco trade. Since it began in January 2021, the operation has removed more than 74 million illicit cigarettes, 19,750kg of hand-rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale [1]. In 2023 new sanctions were introduced to support the work that Trading Standards do at retail level. They allow Trading Standards to make a referral into HMRC in relation to their tobacco seizures. HMRC can then then investigate and issue civil sanctions, including penalties of up to £10,000. At Budget 2025, the Government set out its plans to tackle rogue retailers who breach tobacco and vape regulations, by taking the power in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco and vape products. This will strengthen enforcement and support legitimate businesses. The government is also legislating to introduce the Vaping Duty Stamps scheme from 1 October 2026, which requires all vaping products manufactured or imported into the UK to have a duty stamp on packaging so illicit products are immediately identifiable. [1] Over £1.4 million in penalties issued as crackdown on illegal tobacco accelerates

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his timetable to publish the Defence Investment Plan on the UK defence industry.

Defence continues to manage its capabilities and programmes to ensure they are not unnecessarily impacted or delayed whilst the upcoming Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is developed. The Department is working flat out to deliver the DIP, which will be published as soon as possible. The DIP is the first time in 18 years Defence has completed a single, comprehensive review of programmes and is backed by the Government’s largest sustained increase in defence investment since the end of the Cold War, spending £270 billion on defence in this Parliament alone.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his timetable to publish the Defence Investment Plan on the Global Combat Air Programme.

Defence continues to manage its capabilities and programmes to ensure they are not unnecessarily impacted or delayed whilst the upcoming Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is developed. The Department is working flat out to deliver the DIP, which will be published as soon as possible. The DIP is the first time in 18 years Defence has completed a single, comprehensive review of programmes and is backed by the Government’s largest sustained increase in defence investment since the end of the Cold War, spending £270 billion on defence in this Parliament alone.

How many long range one-way attack drones his Department has ordered for (a) Ukraine and (b) the British armed forces since 5 July 2024.

At the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in October 2025, the Defence Secretary confirmed that £600 million has been invested by the UK this year to accelerate drone delivery to Ukraine, with more than 85,000 military drones delivered in between April and October 2025 out of our aim of 100,000 in this financial year. The Ministry of Defence has had delivery of nearly 10,000 uncrewed systems since July 2024. Due to operational security considerations, it is important to guard against the threat of adversary data aggregation regarding the specific detailed breakdown of UK military capability, including platform numbers and types, so would be inappropriate to comment further.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK and Poland agree enhanced missile defence and helicopter training cooperation, published on 13 January, if he will list the new capabilities for which the UK and Poland have agreed exploration of development and procurement.

The UK and Poland will engage in joint training which will include a mix of live training and Digital Synthetic elements to maximise the benefits to both nations’ service personnel.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK and Poland agree enhanced missile defence and helicopter training cooperation, published on 13 January, how many Polish helicopter pilots will conduct training in the UK in each remaining year of the current Parliament.

Poland is one of the UK’s strongest allies and the UK-Poland defence relationship goes from strength to strength. Cooperation under NATO’s Eastern Sentry mission sees British and Polish pilots flying together to protect Polish and NATO airspace. 8 Polish military helicopter pilots will commence training at RAF Shawbury in Training Year 2026/2027; this has been agreed through the NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) programme. NFTE allocations for the remaining Training Years in the current Parliament have not yet been confirmed.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, how many and what proportion of the missiles will be manufactured in the United Kingdom.

The deadline to receive Nightfall development proposals is the 9 February 2026, with development contract(s) aimed to be awarded in March 2026. The Department aims to maximise the UK industrial content of these development contract(s).

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, how many of the new deep strike ballistic missiles will be produced in each year of the current Parliament.

The project aims for three industry teams to each be awarded a £9 million development contract in March 2026 to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles within 12 months for test firings. Following successful testing, we plan to place a 2-year production contract, with the first deliveries of Nightfall to Ukraine to start in late 2027 and ramp up to a rate of at least 10 missiles per month.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, what the in service date is of the new deep strike ballistic missile.

The project aims for three industry teams to each be awarded a £9 million development contract in March 2026 to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles within 12 months for test firings. We envision the first deliveries of Nightfall to Ukraine to start in late 2027.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK industry support to Ukraine supercharged with new business centre, published on 16 January 2026, who will lead the business centre.

Cost and staffing details cannot be disclosed at this stage, as revealing commercially sensitive information during an active procurement process could prejudice fair competition among potential delivery partners. The Ministry of Defence will work with the selected delivery partner and relevant stakeholders to develop the hub's operational framework, which will determine resource requirements. These details will be confirmed following contract award and will be subject to normal transparency arrangements.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK industry support to Ukraine supercharged with new business centre, published on 16 January 2026, how many staff will be employed as part of the business centre.

Cost and staffing details cannot be disclosed at this stage, as revealing commercially sensitive information during an active procurement process could prejudice fair competition among potential delivery partners. The Ministry of Defence will work with the selected delivery partner and relevant stakeholders to develop the hub's operational framework, which will determine resource requirements. These details will be confirmed following contract award and will be subject to normal transparency arrangements.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Homes fit for heroes with extra £1.5 billion for forces housing through upcoming Strategic Defence Review, published on 31 May 2025, how much of the £7 billion to be spent on military accommodation this Parliament has been spent as of 19 January 2026.

The Defence Housing Strategy, published on 3 November 2025, sets out plans to improve the standard of Service family homes as part of a generational renewal of Defence family housing. Through the Consumer Charter, 1,000 of the worst homes were refurbished before Christmas 2025 - with hundreds more military properties due to be upgraded by the Spring. Future plans are being worked through carefully, with the ambition to make improvements to homes right across the country and in all nations of the UK. Further updates will be provided in due course following the publication of the Defence Investment Plan.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK industry support to Ukraine supercharged with new business centre, published on 16 January 2026, what is the total cost of establishing the business centre.

Cost and staffing details cannot be disclosed at this stage, as revealing commercially sensitive information during an active procurement process could prejudice fair competition among potential delivery partners. The Ministry of Defence will work with the selected delivery partner and relevant stakeholders to develop the hub's operational framework, which will determine resource requirements. These details will be confirmed following contract award and will be subject to normal transparency arrangements.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 19 January 2026, whether he plans to hold discussions with the Chief of the Air Staff on the acceleration of procurement of the Eurofighter Common Radar System Mk2 Radar.

The Chief of the Air Staff continually monitors the timelines for all Air Programmes in coordination with each Programmes' Senior Responsible Owner. This includes any opportunities to accelerate procurement in line with Departmental priorities and international collaboration.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, if he will list the range of vehicles from which the new deep strike ballistic missile can be launched from.

The project aims for three industry teams to each be awarded a £9 million development contract in March 2026 to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles within 12 months for test firings, as well as a launch vehicle of the suppliers' choice. The Department has specified the launch vehicle should be as small as possible and no larger than a 40-foot flatbed.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Homes fit for heroes with extra £1.5 billion for forces housing through upcoming Strategic Defence Review, published on 31 May 2025, how much of the £7 billion to be spent on military accommodation this Parliament will be spent on developing new forces housing in (a) Single Living Accommodation and (b) Service Family Accommodation.

The Defence Housing Strategy, published on 3 November 2025, sets out plans to improve the standard of Service family homes as part of a generational renewal of Defence family housing. Through the Consumer Charter, 1,000 of the worst homes were refurbished before Christmas 2025 - with hundreds more military properties due to be upgraded by the Spring. Future plans are being worked through carefully, with the ambition to make improvements to homes right across the country and in all nations of the UK, Further updates will be provided in due course following the publication of the Defence Investment Plan.