Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department provides to those veterans’ organisations that fell outside the scope of VALOUR Development Funding.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
In March, the government announced the first 14 lead organisations under VALOUR, which is currently operating 21 VALOUR Recognised Centres (VRC), backed by over £13 million of government funding. The centres span the whole of the country, including centres in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and across England.
A second round for organisations and consortia to bid for funding closed in August, I will make a final decision on which organisations have been successful, and the results will be announced soon.
Alongside this, the VALOUR Campaign Site has launched to help veterans and their families find their nearest VRC, access MOD Veterans Services, and explain the breadth of support available across the UK.
A new digital service will also be introduced for VALOUR, aiming to offer as many options as possible to help veterans and their families find the right support, especially for those unable to travel to a VRC.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans’ organisations were not successful in applying for VALOUR Development Funding; and how many veterans this is expected to affect.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
In March, the government announced the first 14 lead organisations under VALOUR, which is currently operating 21 VALOUR Recognised Centres (VRC), backed by over £13 million of government funding. The centres span the whole of the country, including centres in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and across England.
A second round for organisations and consortia to bid for funding closed in August, I will make a final decision on which organisations have been successful, and the results will be announced soon.
Alongside this, the VALOUR Campaign Site has launched to help veterans and their families find their nearest VRC, access MOD Veterans Services, and explain the breadth of support available across the UK.
A new digital service will also be introduced for VALOUR, aiming to offer as many options as possible to help veterans and their families find the right support, especially for those unable to travel to a VRC.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many days of average usage are covered by diesel reserves held by the private sector in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As a member of the International Energy Agency, the UK is required to hold oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of net imports. The UK meets this requirement by placing obligations on major suppliers.
Data on monthly diesel stocks and demand are published in Energy Trends Tables 3.11 and 3.13 respectively.
Energy Trends: UK oil and oil products - GOV.UK
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the capacity of diesel reserves held by her Department is.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As a member of the International Energy Agency, the UK is required to hold oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of net imports. The UK meets this requirement by placing obligations on major suppliers.
Data on monthly diesel stocks and demand are published in Energy Trends Tables 3.11 and 3.13 respectively.
Energy Trends: UK oil and oil products - GOV.UK
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a ban on diesel exports by the United States on UK consumers; and what preparations she has made to mitigate the impact of such a ban.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 2 October, G7 Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to refrain from export restrictions on energy and energy products between G7 countries, and called on all producers to refrain from imposing bans that could exacerbate market tensions.
We continue to monitor UK supply and prices closely. the government continues to work closely with stakeholders to ensure long-standing contingency plans are ready in the event of disruption. We recognise the pressures people are facing and are focused on helping keep costs down for families and businesses.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with operators of UK drone and missile production facilities regarding (a) protective security and (b) business continuity planning in the context of the Kremlin's statement of 25 August 2026.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The MOD is engaging closely with suppliers and continues to work across the wider UK defence industry to improve and increase security measures against a range of hybrid threats. Further detail is being withheld for security reasons.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 34 of the Defence Investment Plan, published on 30 June 2026, regarding the statement that AI will feature within the Digital Targeting Web, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, Project ASGARD, the Maritime Fighting Web, the Hybrid Navy and Collaborative Combat Aircraft, whether the funding for that AI is included within the artificial intelligence figures in section 2.3 of the Defence Investment Plan or within each programme's own budget.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The AI figures in Section 2.3 of the Defence Investment Plan relate to dedicated AI investments and enablers across Defence.
AI is also being incorporated into a range of wider capability programmes, including the Digital Targeting Web, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, Project ASGARD, the Maritime Fighting Web, the Hybrid Navy and Collaborative Combat Aircraft, where funding for AI-related activity is contained within the relevant programme budgets.
As set out in the Defence Investment Plan, Defence's investment in AI extends beyond dedicated AI programmes as AI becomes embedded across the Integrated Force.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 July 2026 on Annual Statement on National Resilience, HCWS244, how much funding has been allocated to the national resilience public awareness campaign in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The campaign will be delivered through a low-cost strategy to drive national behaviour change. We are actively engaging local government, emergency services, utilities, industry, academia, and the voluntary and faith sectors to support the campaign to embed campaign messages into people's everyday lives (such as libraries, utility bills and via healthcare providers) and significantly amplify our overall reach.
We secured funding through the Spending Review process to design assets and to target priority audiences with paid advertising, where we have evidence that low/no cost communications activity had limited reach.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 14 July 2026 on National Resilience, on what date the national resilience public awareness campaign will launch.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The household resilience public information campaign announced through the Annual Statement on National Resilience is being developed by the Cabinet Office and will launch later this year.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings her Department held with other departments on the cross-departmental consequences of an energy supply shortage in the last 12 months; and whether there is a fixed schedule for future such meetings.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Cabinet Office Ministers and officials regularly engage with other government departments on a wide range of cross-cutting resilience matters, including the impacts of any potential energy supply shortages.
Cross-departmental engagement occurs on a continuous basis, and there have been a large number of ministerial and official meetings held on broader resilience over the past 12 months, at which this topic can arise. To provide more detailed information would exceed the threshold and incur a disproportionate cost to the Cabinet Office.