Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 14 of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what growth spillover benefits he plans to unlock in Huntingdon constituency.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring defence is an engine for growth. However, we have made no assessment of growth spillover effects in the Huntingdon constituency, or any constituency level at this stage.

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.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the responsibilities are of the National Situation Centre.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The National Situation Centre – established in 2021 – provides situational awareness for crisis response and national resilience. It is regarded internationally as a benchmark for Government use of data in crisis. The National Situation Centre is part of COBR.

The National Situation Centre ensures that ministers and officials have access to relevant and timely data for decision making. More than 700 anonymised and aggregated data sets have been mapped or ingested and, at short notice, analysis can be produced for almost 90% of risks identified in the National Risk Register. Dashboards are hosted on a dedicated secure platform, built by the National Situation Centre, and are shared across government and with the devolved governments. A number of bespoke reporting tools have either been created or are under development to provide insight into the most serious risks.

The National Situation Centre has also developed a “digital National Risk Register” platform to interrogate the impacts of a risk, or a number of risks. It allows users to see the impacts which the materialisation of a risk may cause and immediately determine which of those impacts are compounded if multiple risks were to occur concurrently. If a new pandemic were to emerge, we would be able to consider complex, concurrent scenarios in minutes.

The National Situation Centre is also responsible for sending Emergency Alerts to mobile phones, as part of the COBR process.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 36 of the National Security Strategy, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made in unlocking investment across a range of cutting-edge technologies via the Technology Security Initiative with India.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Technology Security Initiative (TSI) is a landmark agreement aimed at strengthening UK-India collaboration on critical and emerging technologies - such as AI - to drive growth and strengthen national security in both countries. It was launched by the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister Modi in India in July 2024. Since then, it has enabled industry, academia, and government to deliver a number of new strategic opportunities - for example, a £7 million joint research programme on Future Telecoms.

For the sixth year running, India remains the second-largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects into the UK. Last year, Indian FDI created over 6,000 jobs - with many of these in the tech sector. More than 300 Indian tech companies attended London Tech Week, with most of them expressing interest in AI, a key area within TSI.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many civil monetary penalties have been imposed by the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation since October 2024.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

None.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 72359 on Economic Situation: Subversion, what progress he has made in establishing a supply chain centre.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The government has announced its intention to launch a Supply Chain Centre within the Department of Business and Trade. Work is now underway to establish the Centre, which is currently operating in shadow form. The Centre will lead work to strengthen the resilience of supply chains critical to the UK's economic growth and security, with particular emphasis on bolstering the resilience of high-growth industries identified in the Industrial Strategy.

The Centre will be formally launched in 2026, with more detail on these plans to be shared in due course.

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Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 72359 on Economic Situation: Subversion, what progress he has made on establishing an Economic Security Advisory Service.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Economic Security Advisory Service (ESAS) will streamline government expertise and guidance to help protect UK business competitiveness against economic security risks and threats. The Service is being piloted during the current financial year, with the ambition to scale up over the Spending Review period. To date, extensive engagement with industry and partners in the UK and overseas is being used to develop a digital offer, which will sit alongside bespoke sector specific support.

We will continue to monitor progress and draw on industry feedback to ensure that the Service meets user needs.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on bringing globally mobile manufacturing investments to the UK via the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The up to £520m Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund was launched in 2024 to incentivise commercial-scale manufacturing of medicines and medical devices. The fund aims to drive economic growth and build UK health resilience. There have been four application rounds to date and we expect to announce the first set of grant winners in the coming month. In addition, we have recently invested £30 million in a new UK RNA Biofoundry, and we continue to work on our long-term partnerships with Moderna and BioNTech, which will grow the UK’s manufacturing and R&D capabilities for the benefit of UK patients.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the lead time is between purchasing and delivery for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile missiles.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand but I am withholding this information on the grounds of National Security as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Ministry of Defence.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the full scope of Project EVE.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Project EVE is an innovative Communications & Information Systems (CIS) network which digitally connects front-line Commando Forces and supporting elements within 3 Cdo Brigade to globally dispersed Command and Control (C2) elements. EVE will be fielded by the Army’s Very High Readiness forces under Project CAIN for 16X.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made on the delivery of the future air superiority effectors programme.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Future Air Superiority Effectors programme is currently in pre-concept phase, and work is actively underway to establish a concept phase.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to replace the remaining in-service Tranche 1 Typhoons.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The remaining in-service Tranche 1 Typhoons have a planned out of Service date of 2027. Upon Tranche 1 retirement, Typhoon will continue to serve as the backbone of the UK's Combat Air Force until at least the 2040s.

To ensure it remains at the cutting edge of capability, the UK is planning significant investment in the Typhoon through-life equipment programme. This includes the delivery and integration of the advanced European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk2) radar, which will enhance the aircraft's operational effectiveness.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on reducing trial approval times to under 150 days.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up, to under 150 days by March 2026 with the aim of making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials. We are streamlining the set-up and delivery of clinical research through the UK Clinical Research Delivery (UKCRD) programme as set out in our recent publication, Transforming the UK clinical research system: August 2025 update, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-the-uk-clinical-research-system-august-2025-update

The UKCRD programme has rapidly implemented a Study Set-Up Plan, co-led by the Department and NHS England to address the delays affecting clinical research set-up through reducing unnecessary bureaucracy, by standardising commercial contracts and removing duplicative steps at sites to create a standardised pathway, for example in pharmacy set-up, to free up workforce capacity. The second phase of the Plan was completed in June 2025, with mandatory use of the new processes and templates for commercial trials by October 2025. The successful implementation of the Plan will be closely monitored for impact.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

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

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns, is published annually, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence

The next update will be for the year ending 31 March 2025.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.

The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 26 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, who will be responsible for the creation of a National Action Plan on confronting Antimicrobial Resistance.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

A cross-government National Action Plan (NAP) to confront antimicrobial resistance (AMR) exists. The NAP, covering 2024 to 2029, was published on 8 May 2024, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-year-action-plan-for-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029/confronting-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029

It is the second of four five-year NAPs that the United Kingdom Government committed to developing in order to deliver its 20-year vision that AMR is contained, controlled, and mitigated by 2040.

The content of this NAP was developed by the Department in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders across different sectors and the four UK nations. This allowed the NAP to take a One Health approach, encompassing cross-sector activity to drive collaborative and innovative action.

Organisations responsible for delivery provide regular updates to the Department, and the appropriate governance structures ensure delivery is kept on track and that progress is being made on the NAP’s commitments and targets.