Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister's announcement of 14 May 2026, by when he expects all delivery advisors to be in post across Government.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The recruitment of delivery advisors is a matter for individual departments. Support will be provided so that appropriate appointments can be made in a timely way.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on removing barriers to workforce mobility across AUKUS partners via mutual recognition of security clearances for AUKUS-related work.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. AUKUS continues to support growth, deliver workforce and skills development and reinvigorate defence industrial bases across the UK, US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to enable mutual recognition of security clearances for AUKUS-related work. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing an AUKUS visa across trilateral AUKUS partners.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to introduce an AUKUS visa across trilateral AUKUS partners. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a joint secretariat to support trilateral AUKUS representatives.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
The UK remains fully committed to “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, injecting pace, focus and significant investment to drive delivery, alongside the US and Australia. The House of Commons Defence Committee report on AUKUS sets out a recommendation to establish a joint secretariat to support trilateral AUKUS representatives. The Government will publish a full response to the Committee report in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Security Strategy, CP1338, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made in enabling closer cooperation with the EU regarding the enhancement of the resilience of the UK’s critical infrastructure.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We are intensifying our cooperation with the EU to protect critical infrastructure, including on hybrid and cyber threats through the implementation of the Security and Defence Partnership agreed at the UK-EU Summit in May 2025. As part of this work, in September 2025, the FCDO Minister of State for Europe, North America, and Overseas Territories co-chaired the inaugural UK-EU strategic consultation on Hybrid Threats. This established practical areas of cooperation including incident response and support to partners facing hostile hybrid activity.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the address by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister to the FDA Union on 15 May 2926, how many delivery advisors he plans to recruit in total across departments; and at what grade.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The recruitment of delivery advisors is a matter for individual departments.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 43 of the Fourth Report of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy of Session 2024-26 on The National Security Strategy, HC 1045, published on 27 March 2026, what additional resilience capabilities he plans to develop by 2027 in order to achieve the 1.5% of GDP target spend on resilience and security by that date.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
The Government follows all NATO definitions and guidance on applicable spend within the 1.5% of GDP. I refer the Honourable Member to their previous Parliamentary Question, where the answer set out that NATO has already agreed the definition of 1.5% as spend “to inter alia protect critical infrastructure, defend networks, ensure civil preparedness and resilience, innovate, and strengthen the defence industrial base.” Further details on plans for meeting our obligations will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what date is the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on AUKUS scheduled to end.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
Sir Stephen Lovegrove was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on AUKUS in April 2025. This appointment was made on an initial 12 month basis and has been extended for an additional year. Sir Stephen will continue to drive forward the Prime Minister’s commitment to delivering against our AUKUS commitments, recognising AUKUS as a strategic partnership which is fundamental to the UK’s NATO-first approach and to Trans-Atlantic burden-sharing. The government will keep the duration of the appointment under review, in line with the terms of the appointment.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the Contingency Planning Small Ministerial Group has met since its inception.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
The Contingency Planning Small Ministerial Group is meeting regularly to respond to the range of topics that arise as part of the Middle East response.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which ministers form the membership of the Contingency Planning Small Ministerial Group.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
A Contingency Planning Small Ministerial Group, chaired by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, meets regularly and ministers are invited as necessary.