Written questions by Akehurst.

What proportion of the Ajax programme supply chain is based in the North East.

4% of the Ajax programme’s key suppliers are based in the North and North East of England.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Chinese counterparts on the right of the Tibetan Buddhist authorities to select the successor to the Dalai Lama without interference.

This Government stands firm on human rights, including China's repression of the people of Tibet. We champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all in the UK and abroad, and work to uphold the right to FoRB through the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora, and through bilateral engagement. For example, On July 2 the UK convened an event in Geneva to reaffirm the right to FoRB for all, including Tibetan Buddhists and the right to choose their own religious leaders.The UK views the Dalai Lama as a respected spiritual leader and strong human rights advocate. It is our longstanding position that the appointment of the next Dalai Lama is a matter for the Tibetan Buddhist community across the world, in line with FoRB.We raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor, Energy Secretary and I all raised human rights recently with our Chinese counterparts.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken with international partners to encourage international humanitarian access to Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The UK has called for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to be granted unfettered and immediate access to the hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees to deliver on their independent visiting role, as enshrined within the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The UK reaffirms our support for the ICRC as the only humanitarian actor with the experience, capability, independence, and mandate to carry out their important responsibilities. As the Prime Minister said on 21 July, the UK demands an immediate ceasefire to stop the slaughter, that the UN be allowed to send humanitarian assistance into Gaza on a continuing basis to prevent starvation, and the immediate release of the hostages.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of public complaint records from the Hong Kong Ombudsman Office’s online archive on UK businesses operating in that country.

I am aware of the removal of the historical complaint records from the Hong Kong Ombudsman Office's website. While we recognise the importance of transparency and access to public information for businesses operating overseas, no formal assessment has been conducted on the specific impact of this change on UK businesses in Hong Kong. We continue to monitor developments in Hong Kong closely and maintain regular engagement with UK businesses to understand emerging concerns.We are also working closely with colleagues across Whitehall, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to ensure a coordinated approach to developments in Hong Kong that may affect UK commercial interests.

What his planned timetable is for developing the deep precision strike capability with Germany.

UK and Germany are considering several concepts and technologies to address emerging threats and have defined a joint range requirement of over 2,000km. Specific characteristics, in-service dates and launch platforms are to be confirmed.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on whether the Myanmar military is violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 2417 in (a) Rakhine State and (b) other places.

We continue to call on the Myanmar military to allow full, unrestricted humanitarian access in Myanmar and to respect fundamental humanitarian principles, including in Rakhine state. One in four households in Myanmar are in acute food insecurity. The UK has reached over 650,000 people with humanitarian food support in 2024, through our humanitarian programme. We will continue to maintain a spotlight on the humanitarian situation in Myanmar and will continue to provide vital humanitarian assistance and support.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure UK aid to Myanmar (a) reaches people impacted by the recent earthquake and (b) is not intercepted by the military regime.

The UK has announced up to £25 million in life-saving support for those affected by the recent earthquake in Myanmar, including up to £5 million to match public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. So far this support has provided food, water, healthcare, and shelter supplies to over 300,000 people. The UK funds local actors who can directly access affected populations, overcoming humanitarian access restrictions to support the most vulnerable communities.The UK does not fund the military regime in Myanmar, and the regime has no involvement in directing our programmes. To manage the increased risk of aid diversion due to security and access constraints, we contract a third party to monitor our humanitarian programmes, verifying activities have taken place and flagging any allegations of aid diversion or other malpractice.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether a proportion of UK aid to Myanmar will be ringfenced for healthcare provision.

Since the coup, the UK has provided over £170 million to Myanmar in lifesaving humanitarian assistance, including healthcare provision through the Access to Health (A2H) Fund. The UK is the largest donor to A2H, which has supported vulnerable populations with critical nutrition services, maternal and child health interventions, and immunisation services since 2021. In 2024, UK-funded support provided essential health services to approximately 1.2 million people.The UK has announced up to £25 million in life-saving support for people affected by the recent earthquake in Myanmar, including £2 million to the (A2H) Fund. So far, UK funding has reached over 48,000 people with healthcare services following the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.

When homeland defence plans were last reviewed.

The United Kingdom has well-developed contingency plans to respond to a wide range of eventualities. The plans and supporting arrangements have been developed, refined and tested over many years. This includes continuous reviews of the risk landscape through specific assessment and updating of NSRA risks. Plans are developed in line with the risk landscape and scalable to these risks.The Government sets out some of the main risks and emergencies that drive this common consequence planning in the National Risk Register, the latest version of which was published earlier this year: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-risk-register-2025GOV.UK/prepare, the Government’s website for resilience and emergency planning, is designed to help people plan for potential hazards and equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and resources to respond effectively.

Whether he plans to publish guidance to the public on action to take in the days following an armed attack on the UK by another state.

The United Kingdom has well-developed contingency plans to respond to a wide range of risks. The plans and supporting arrangements have been developed, refined and tested over many years.The scale of these capabilities is driven by classified planning assumptions derived from the United Kingdom’s National Security Risk Assessment. The Government sets out some of the main risks and emergencies that drive this common consequence planning in the National Risk Register, the latest version of which was published earlier this year: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-risk-register-2025GOV.UK/prepare, the Government’s website for resilience and emergency planning, is designed to help people plan for potential hazards and equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and resources to respond effectively.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing mission critical neighbourhoods, as defined by the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, on the effectiveness of the Government's policies on tackling (a) deprivation and (b) other issues.

This Government has recently announced the Plan for Neighbourhoods, a £1.5 billion programme to invest in 75 areas over the next decade, offering a long-term strategy to fix the foundations of places that have been left behind. This plan will help to tackle deprivation at the root cause, creating neighbourhoods where people can thrive, communities are stronger, and people have control over the things that matter to them. In each of these areas, we will help set up a Neighbourhood Board, bringing together residents, local businesses, and grassroots campaigners to draw up a new vision for their neighbourhood. I welcome the launch of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhood’s interim report and look forward to seeing, their insights on how we can build on this agenda to support the most in need neighbourhoods.

Communities and Local Government, when she expects to receive the final report of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods.

This Government has recently announced the Plan for Neighbourhoods, a £1.5 billion programme to invest in 75 areas over the next decade, offering a long-term strategy to fix the foundations of places that have been left behind. This plan will help to tackle deprivation at the root cause, creating neighbourhoods where people can thrive, communities are stronger, and people have control over the things that matter to them. In each of these areas, we will help set up a Neighbourhood Board, bringing together residents, local businesses, and grassroots campaigners to draw up a new vision for their neighbourhood. I welcome the launch of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhood’s interim report and look forward to seeing, their insights on how we can build on this agenda to support the most in need neighbourhoods.

What proportion of the population of England and Wales has a criminal record.

To answer the question exactly would be disproportionate costs. The Ministry of Justice holds an extract of data from the Police National Computer (PNC). To obtain data on all those with a criminal record would require collaborating with the Home Office as they hold the complete source data.In October 2024, the Ministry of Justice published an ad-hoc statistical publication which estimated that 9.4 million working age people in the UK have a nominal record with a criminal element against their name held on the MoJ extract of the PNC. This is a high-level estimate based on the UK population and is equivalent to 22% of the working aged population (those aged 16-64). This is an estimate with limitations. A comprehensive programme of work would need to be undertaken to determine a precise figure and this would incur disproportionate cost.

What demographic information is held about the subjects of DBS checks in England and Wales.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office and as such the Home Office does not hold any demographic information about the subjects of DBS checks in England and Wales. The DBS itself only holds demographic information that is mandatory for the processing of disclosure checks and barring referrals.

With reference to the policy paper entitled Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) 2024: joint statement, published on 17 December 2024, what progress he has made on exploring enhanced collaboration on Land Mobility Platforms.

As outlined in our December 2024 AUKMIN Joint Statement, the UK and Australia agreed to explore enhanced collaboration on Land Mobility Platforms. We are doing just this with our Land Mobility Programme which includes a recognition of Australian land mobility capabilities and how cooperation could mutually benefit our defence industries. This programme is currently underway and is informing investment considerations and decisions, subject to cross-Government approval.

When his Ministers next plan to meet their Australian counterparts.

Given the strength, breadth and depth of the bilateral defence relationship, The Defence Secretary and Defence Ministers regularly engage with Australian counterparts. Australia will hold federal elections no later than 17 May so I hope the hon. Member will understand, as is normal in any election period, all engagements are under review until Australia has held its election.

What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the level of the UK’s reliance on Chinese technology in (a) solar panels, (b) wind power generation and (c) batteries.

This Government will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we have different interests, and challenge where we must. As an open economy, we welcome foreign trade and investment where it supports growth and jobs in the UK and meets our legal and regulatory requirements. We work closely with industry to build secure supply chains and back UK businesses. The government has also established Great British Energy to drive forward greater investment in clean, home-grown energy production and to build supply chains across the UK.

If her Department will take steps to help stop (a) Palestine Action’s direct action training days and (b) the spread of violent direct action training materials.

Whilst the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, this right does not extend to activities that promote violence or criminal damage.The decision to investigate potential criminal activity is a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of government. Home Office Ministers cannot interfere in operational decisions of this nature, as to do so could undermine their independence.However, the Government will always support the police in using their powers as robustly as possible to prevent crime and maintain public order and safety where appropriate.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of direct action taken by Palestine Action on the (a) defence sector and (b) adequacy of the supply of assets to the Armed Forces.

The Ministry of Defence regularly monitors risks and issues facing the defence sector as part of our supply chain resilience work. A number of UK Defence companies have reported that they have incurred costs through installing additional security measures in responding to the threat of actions from groups such as Palestine Action. It is also recognised that there are a small number of defence companies, and associated supporting businesses, who have been targeted by Palestine Action with criminal damage and intimidation of their staff. At an individual level these businesses have incurred costs and disruption through the damage caused and we are working with the Police to deal with such offences and mitigate potential future such action. However, the overall impact to Defence has been limited and there have been no significant reported impacts to the Defence supply chain.

If she will review the adequacy of legislation related to the policing of the operations of (a) Palestine Action and (b) other direct action groups.

Whilst the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, this right does not extend to activities that promote violence or criminal damage.The decision to investigate potential criminal activity is a matter for the police, who are operationally independent of government. Home Office Ministers cannot interfere in operational decisions of this nature, as to do so could undermine their independence.However, the Government will always support the police in using their powers as robustly as possible to prevent crime and maintain public order and safety where appropriate.