Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Afghans housed in Service Families Accommodation under Operation Lazurite were brought to the UK under the Afghan Response Route.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are committed to honouring the promise made to those Afghans who supported the UK mission in Afghanistan, often at great personal risk.
As of 4 September 2025, there are 97 Afghan Response Route (ARR) eligible families residing in Settled Service Family Accommodation (SSFA). MOD does not hold data on the specific number of individuals in each SSFA. There are 293 ARR eligible persons residing in temporary accommodation on the Defence Estate which includes transitional SFA and barrack block style accommodation.
The Afghan Resettlement Programme provides our Afghan friends and allies with the opportunity to begin new lives in the UK. Each arrival is entitled to nine months transitional accommodation – allowing them time to orient themselves to the UK, establish roots and integrate into communities to begin the path to self-sufficiency.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 49543, how many of the houses reacquired by his Department in January 2025 from Annington Homes have been used to house Afghans brought to the UK via (a) the Afghan Resettlement Programme and (b) separately as a subset of the Afghan Response Route.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Surplus SFA not needed for our personnel have been used in certain circumstances. 795 of the 36,000 properties bought back from Annington Homes in January 2025 have been used to house Afghans who worked alongside out troops in Afghanistan who have been brought to the UK via the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARAP).
I refer the honourable member to the answer to PQ 72330 which provides the number of Afghan Response Route (ARR) Eligible Persons (EP) accommodated on the Defence Estate on 4 September 2025. The Department does not hold data on which former Annington Homes properties are occupied by ARR EPs.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support defence companies.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Industrial Strategy is the defence sector plan for the Modern Industrial Strategy and underlines this Government’s commitment to making defence an engine for growth
The DIS outlines how the Government will back UK-based businesses by launching the offsets consultation, increase spending on SMEs, create a Defence Office for SME Growth, and provide additional support to companies to export. It announced an ambitious skills package of £182million to enable industry to recruit and build the well-paid jobs that will keep the UK secure in the future.
The DIS also outlines how the MOD will conduct early market engagement with industry to inform procurement decisions.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the contribution of Typhoon jets to GDP.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The biggest contribution of defence to GDP is peace and security. My Department has made no estimate of the contribution to GDP of any individual programmes and capabilities.
The Defence Industrial Strategy published on 8 September 2025 clearly set out how we are making defence an engine for growth - Investing more money in key defence areas and regions across the UK to create good jobs. This year my Department has announced further multi-year contracts with UK companies for the support of in-service Typhoon EJ200 engines and the continuing development of the ECRS Mk2 radar upgrade programme that will be embodied on the RAF fleet. A resilient UK industrial base strengthens Britain's defence companies and supply chains to make us more secure and boost our economy, which will support making NATO stronger.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which elements of the Global Combat air programme are included within the scope of the Industrial Strategy partnership with the Japanese government agreed in March 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK and Japan are pioneering an Industrial Strategy Partnership (ISP) focusing on green and digital transformation, economic security and inclusive regional growth. The ISP aims to deepen UK-Japan industrial and technology collaboration through programmes such as GCAP.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 2 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on establishing a roadmap for delivering deeper interoperability with NATO allies by January 2026.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Strategic Defence Review is clear that our defence policy is 'NATO First'. The Armed Forces must be capable of operating as part of a NATO force by design. We are taking this forward with and through NATO, which will produce an Interoperability Plan for the Alliance by the end of the year. The Military Strategic Headquarters has appointed an interoperability champion to support the implementation of this plan.
The UK's own roadmap for delivering deeper interoperability with NATO allies will be developed alongside our Integrated Force Design. Officials within the Department meet regularly to discuss both initiatives, however, information regarding the total number of meetings is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of the Israel Defence Forces and Mossad have attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in the past 25 years.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
28 places have been taken up by Israeli Defence Forces on the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2000. These places are offered to the Israel Defence Forces.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for the UK's defence and intelligence capabilities of their not inviting Israeli officials to the 2025 Defence and Security Equipment International event.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence carefully assessed the implications of not inviting Israeli officials to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) UK 2025 conference. We do not comment publicly on operational matters. The Government of Israel's decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong, and, as a result, no Israeli government delegation was invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department receives a share of funds from every F-35 sold to (a) foreign military sales customers and (b) Israel.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
A key part of the overall funding approach for the F-35 is that all F-35 partners who contributed to development costs for the platform are able to recoup elements of the that original expenditure from foreign military sales, relative to their level of investment in programme development.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2025 to Question 66652 on Military Aircraft: Ministers, whether the RAF Command Support Air Transport fleets include (a) Airbus A321 G-GBNI, (b) Airbus A330 ZZ336, (c) Dassault Falcon 900LX Envoy IV G-ZAHS and G-ZABH.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No, the RAF Command Support Air Transport (CSAT) fleet comprises of two Envoy IV Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft, G-ZAHS and G-ZABH.
The Voyager aircraft, ZZ336, is operated alongside the main fleet of RAF Voyagers, on behalf of the RAF by AirTanker. It has a secondary role and can be tasked under Op VESPINA for the use of Head of State or Head of Government on State business only.
The Airbus A321 (G-GBNI) is not a military aircraft. It is tasked by the Cabinet Travel Office under Government contract.
CSAT is a military function, delivered to aid operational effectiveness including senior military leader partner engagements, crisis early entry, and the movement of operational information. It is separate to wider Government and Royal VIP passenger movement, delivered through the Ministerial Air Transport Contract and Royal Transport Office respectively.
Military tasking of CSAT remains the priority throughout.
This Government is committed to securing value for money for taxpayers. We cancelled the VIP helicopter contract which wasted millions under the previous Government. The money saved from cancelling this contract will be returned to Defence’s core budget- an estimated £40 million.