Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she has taken to seize properties in London owned by Mojtaba Khamenei.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has a wide range of sanctions in place in relation to Iran, including a range of sanctions measures which apply to key figures and entities who have provided funds or economic resources to the Iranian regime. These have resulted in a range of impacts: for example the freezing of UK based assets held by sanctioned individual Ali Ansari, including property.
It would not be appropriate to speculate about potential future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she has taken to impose sanctions upon Mojtaba Khamenei.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has a wide range of sanctions in place in relation to Iran, including a range of sanctions measures which apply to key figures and entities who have provided funds or economic resources to the Iranian regime. These have resulted in a range of impacts: for example the freezing of UK based assets held by sanctioned individual Ali Ansari, including property.
It would not be appropriate to speculate about potential future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, elements of which squadron are the four additional RAF Typhoons deployed to Cyprus.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
It is Government policy not to comment on operational security issues, therefore we will not be providing further details on this matter.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which F-35B squadron will deploy on Operation Firecrest.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
I refer the hon. Member to the response to Question 119565 provided on 18 March 2026.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding has been distributed from the National Security Strategic Investment Fund since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) invests in dual use companies across Quantum, Space, AI, and Emerging Technologies, on a range of cheque sizes, co-investing typically at Seed or Series A funding rounds. NSSIF tends to take a minority stake and not lead the rounds. As published in public accounts NSSIF invested via direct equity investments £8.6m in FY24-25. Accounts for FY25-26 will be published later in the year.
Details of many of the companies in NSSIF's investment portfolio are published on NSSIF's website (www.nssif.gov.uk).
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of adopting the Mk22 Advanced Sniper Rifle for the UK Armed Forces.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Work to consider the future sniper rifle for UK Armed Forces is currently in a pre-concept project, and as such formal consideration of systems and specifications has not yet taken place.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the decision point for the deployment of RFA Lyme Bay to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
RFA Lyme Bay has sailed from Gibraltar, available for maritime tasks in the region should they be required.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made in delivering Atlantic Net.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy (RN) will be deploying new undersea warfare technology as part of Atlantic Net, a new initiative that will see the RN rapidly field and iterate undersea warfare technology in collaboration with a Commercial Mission Partner or Partners. The initial commercial competition closed in late Nov 25 with follow on technical assessment undertaken during Dec 25, this process down-selected from 26 compliant consortia to five.
The RN has worked collaboratively with these five consortia over the past three months, investing £5.6 million to rapidly develop and evidence these capabilities further before the Atlantic Net Commercial Mission Partner will be selected and scaled, pending approval in the Defence Investment Plan.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps has she taken to remove the tree guards from dead saplings along the A14.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of its planned maintenance activities including replanting new trees, adding nutrients to the soil and grass cutting, National Highways will begin removing both redundant biodegradable and plastic tree guards adjacent to A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme. National Highways has scheduled this work to start this month (March 2026).
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of the requirement to replace the minehunting capability of HMS Middleton in the Arabian Gulf.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We inherited a plan from the previous government for a drawdown of crewed minehunting capabilities.
The Royal Navy remains committed to sustaining mine countermeasures capability in the Arabian Gulf. The UK is transitioning to modern autonomous minehunting systems under the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme, and operational requirements in the region are kept under constant review.