Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2024 to Question 901341 on Drugs: Safety, what the outcome was of the recent ministerial roundtable.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following this roundtable, the Government is developing its strategy to support a move away from the use of animals, in favour of suitable alternative methods, in both basic scientific research and in the development of products, and also in the regulatory oversight thereof. This involves input from representatives of those organisations who were present at the roundtable. A detailed strategy document will be published early in the new year.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) warranted police officers, (b) Police Community Support Officers and (c) special constables have been recruited since February 2023.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police workers joining the police service in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.

Information on the number of Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers and Special Constables joining the police service between the years ending 31 March 2007 to 2024 can be found in the ‘Joiners Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669a9161fc8e12ac3edb0081/open-data-table-police-workforce-joiners-240724.ods.

Information for the period 1^st April 2024 to 31^st March 2025 is due to be published in Summer 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which agency leads the multi-agency response to flooding in Cambridgeshire.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Cambridgeshire constabulary will usually chair local strategic and tactical response coordination meetings attended by a range of relevant partners including the emergency services, local authorities, and the Environment Agency.

Multi-agency flood response in Cambridgeshire is coordinated through Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Resilience Forum (CPLRF) who will stand up response structures to help respond to and recover from major emergencies or incidents that may occur. Any agency within the LRF can declare a major incident.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) police officers, (b) Police Community Support Officers and (c) special constables are planned to be recruited between 1 December 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. This will include delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles and ensuring every community has a named officer to turn to.

We are working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 15669 on Ajax Vehicles, what the planned future operational establishment is for an infantry battalion structured around the Boxer platform.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

On current plans, BOXER will be delivered to four Heavy Mechanised Infantry Battalions and Divisional Enablers. We do not routinely disclose specific details in relation to operational establishments, noting these are in any case subject to the outcomes of the Strategic Defence Review concluding in early 2025.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which vehicle makes comprise the fleet of Government cars.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government Car Service operational fleet comprises the following makes of vehicles:

• Ford

• Nissan

• Jaguar

• Land Rover

• Honda

• Toyota

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Oral Statement of 26 November 2026 on “Get Britain Working” White Paper, Official Report, column 656, what additional funding for the Government's Youth Guarantee will be allocated to (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) Peterborough.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In the Get Britain Working White Paper, the government announced £45 million of funding for eight trailblazers in England to test delivery of the Youth Guarantee. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayoral Combined Authority are one of the eight areas set to receive approximately £5 million to support 18-21 year olds access education, training and employment opportunities.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to extend funding for the Smart Infrastructure Pilots Programme beyond March 2025.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Through the Programme, six local authorities are installing "smart" multi-purpose columns or lampposts, to test the benefits of this hosting multiple services, such as mobile connectivity, electric vehicle charging, Wifi and CCTV.

The Government is currently carrying out an evaluation of the Programme, which is due to conclude next year. We will decide our next steps following this process.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how Cambridgeshire Constabulary will benefit from the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

This includes delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles up and down the country.

We are working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants from his Department are assigned to work directly for the Office for Veterans' Affairs.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

As of 28 November 2024, 49 civil servants work in the Office for Veterans’ Affairs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what Cambridgeshire's allocation under the flood funding formula is for 2024-25.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) has allocated over £13 million of funding across the Cambridgeshire area in 2024/25. Alongside this investment, the EA is working in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council to support over 30 local flood action groups across the county to effectively respond to and improve their resilience to flooding.

The Government inherited flood assets in their worst condition on record following years of underinvestment by the previous government – 92.1% of the EA’s 38,000 high consequence assets are currently at required condition.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the procurement for the Royal Air Force's future fast-jet trainer for the Global Combat Air Programme.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Royal Air Force is undertaking a capability investigation into the replacement of the current advanced jet trainer capability and combat aircrew training requirements for Typhoon, F-35 Lightning and the future Global Combat Air Programme, which is informing the Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

The nature of UK combat aircraft operation continues to transform, and future training requirements reflect this. Therefore, the capability investigation includes consideration of a training system that would combine live flying training, including with our air weapons range infrastructure, and networked virtual training through realistic simulation. This will ensure that we can continue to deliver a world class training capability. However, no decisions will be taken until after the SDR is completed.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 3381 on Police: Cambridgeshire, how many of the additional 13,000 police personnel will be redeployed police constables; what criteria her Department will use to determine which roles are redeployed; and which roles will be in scope for redeployment.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to introducing a neighbourhood policing guarantee as part of its Safer Streets mission. This will include the delivery of an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles throughout England and Wales and will ensure that every community has a named officer to turn to.

The Home Office is working with policing to deliver this increase which will include a combination of additional recruitment and redeployment into neighbourhood policing roles. We will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers in 25/26 shortly.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2024 to Question 16677 on Community Policing: Cambridgeshire, how many of the 13,000 additional police officers Cambridgeshire Constabulary will receive.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, the Home Secretary has made a clear commitment to strengthen neighbourhood policing through the introduction of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

This includes delivering an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles up and down the country. We are working closely with policing to implement this commitment and will announce our plans for the delivery of neighbourhood officers shortly. Every part of the country needs to benefit from this pledge, and of course that includes Cambridgeshire.

On 14 October 2024 the House of Commons agreed a motion to establish a committee, to be known as the Speaker’s Conference. That motion ordered that the Conference consider: