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.
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, whether printed material will be delivered to households as part of the national resilience public awareness campaign.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The three-year household resilience public information campaign will launch later this year. The government is developing resources and materials that will be hosted on GOV.UK for partners to download, adapt and distribute locally.
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, what the funding allocated to artificial intelligence is between 2026-27 and 2029-30.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Investment Plan provides £300 million of dedicated investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) between financial years 2026-27 and 2029-30. This comprises £100 million for Taskforce RAID (Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce), £100 million for Programme FRONTIER and other AI enablers, £80 million for Land AI Command and Control applications, and £20 million for AI supporting underwater surveillance and analysis.
In addition, AI is embedded across a range of wider Defence programmes and capabilities, including the Digital Targeting Web, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, Project ASGARD, the Maritime Fighting Web, the Hybrid Navy and Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
As a result, overall Defence investment that utilises AI extends beyond the dedicated AI funding lines identified in the Defence Investment Plan.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that strategic suppliers build resilience into their delivery chains.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In 2019, the Government introduced arrangements for the monitoring and management of strategic suppliers through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) agreed between the Government and each strategic supplier. Under the MoU, strategic suppliers agree to provide the Government with information required to monitor and manage risks across their supply chains.
In addition, the Government regularly publishes Key Performance Indicators for its most significant contracts to maintain visibility of delivery performance. Individual contracting authorities are responsible for undertaking appropriate due diligence as part of their procurement processes.
The Procurement Act 2023 further strengthens the ability of contracting authorities to respond to poor performance and to mitigate risks across public sector supply chains.
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, what funding is allocated to the development of the Defence AI Centre between 2030 and 2035.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Funding levels for the Defence AI Centre between 2030 and 2035 are not yet confirmed.
The Defence Investment Plan states that Defence will continue to invest in specialist AI talent and develop the Defence AI Centre as Defence's enduring centre for AI delivery. It also notes that Defence's investment in AI extends beyond dedicated AI programmes, as AI is increasingly embedded across a range of transformative programmes throughout the Integrated Force.
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, what funding is allocated to defence artificial intelligence between 2030 and 2035.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Investment Plan does not identify specific funding allocation for Defence Artificial Intelligence (AI) between 2030 and 2035.
The Plan states that Defence will continue to invest in specialist AI talent and develop the Defence AI Centre as Defence’s enduring centre for AI delivery.
It also notes that Defence’s investment in AI extends beyond dedicated AI programmes. AI is increasingly embedded across a range of transformative programmes throughout the Integrated Force, and these will be cohered through the new Defence Strategic Approach to AI.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Government cyber resilience, published on 29 January 2025, how many of the critical IT systems with significant gaps in government cyber resilience have since been reassessed.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The critical systems referenced in the National Audit Office report were assessed by GovAssure – Government's cyber assurance programme. Of the 72 assessed systems referenced in the report, 18 have been reassessed since publication.
GovAssure requires organisations to scope and assess their critical IT systems on an annual basis in tranches, prioritising Critical National Infrastructure systems first. Once assessed, organisations will work through Targeted Improvement Plans, so systems may not be immediately reassessed the following year whilst remediation is ongoing.
Government has acknowledged that it faces significant cyber security and resilience risks and has set out its wider package of measures to tackling these through the Government Cyber Action Plan, published in January 2026 and backed by over £210 million.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the UK’s foreign-currency reserve assets is invested in securities issued or guaranteed by foreign governments.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on market movements. Assets in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA) are held to meet the EEA’s core policy objectives as defined in the EEA Act 1979. All EEA investment decisions, including the currency and asset composition of the Account, are made using the following investment principles:
Investment Principle 1 (readiness) – The EEA must be ready to meet its policy objectives at all times, at an acceptable cost and high degree of certainty.
Investment Principle 2 (risk tolerance) – The EEA must not take on risk that compromises the ability to meet Principle 1 or that could unduly influence fiscal metrics.
Investment Principle 3 (return) – Subject to meeting Principles 1 and 2, the EEA should seek to optimise risk-adjusted return
Foreign exchange risk is one of the primary market risks faced by the EEA and so is considered by HMT and the Bank of England when making decisions assessing the EEA’s risk tolerance under Investment Principle 2. A portion of EEA assets are also hedged against foreign exchange and interest rate changes.
To manage credit risk, the Bank maintains a framework of issuer credit limits. A similar framework applies to counterparty risk.
The EEA has held 9.98 million ounces of gold on a permanent basis since March 2002 and it remains an important component of the diversified portfolio.
The Bank of England publishes a monthly statistical release setting out the EEA’s holdings split by broad asset class on the third working day at: UK International Reserves - August 2026. In addition, each quarter, one month in arrears, data on the currency breakdown of the UK’s reserves is published by the Bank of England at: Bank of England | Database.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the UK’s exposure to US-dollar-denominated assets within the official reserves.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on market movements. Assets in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA) are held to meet the EEA’s core policy objectives as defined in the EEA Act 1979. All EEA investment decisions, including the currency and asset composition of the Account, are made using the following investment principles:
Investment Principle 1 (readiness) – The EEA must be ready to meet its policy objectives at all times, at an acceptable cost and high degree of certainty.
Investment Principle 2 (risk tolerance) – The EEA must not take on risk that compromises the ability to meet Principle 1 or that could unduly influence fiscal metrics.
Investment Principle 3 (return) – Subject to meeting Principles 1 and 2, the EEA should seek to optimise risk-adjusted return
Foreign exchange risk is one of the primary market risks faced by the EEA and so is considered by HMT and the Bank of England when making decisions assessing the EEA’s risk tolerance under Investment Principle 2. A portion of EEA assets are also hedged against foreign exchange and interest rate changes.
To manage credit risk, the Bank maintains a framework of issuer credit limits. A similar framework applies to counterparty risk.
The EEA has held 9.98 million ounces of gold on a permanent basis since March 2002 and it remains an important component of the diversified portfolio.
The Bank of England publishes a monthly statistical release setting out the EEA’s holdings split by broad asset class on the third working day at: UK International Reserves - August 2026. In addition, each quarter, one month in arrears, data on the currency breakdown of the UK’s reserves is published by the Bank of England at: Bank of England | Database.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the UK’s official reserve assets carries (a) sovereign, (b) financial institution and (c) other counterparty credit exposure.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on market movements. Assets in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA) are held to meet the EEA’s core policy objectives as defined in the EEA Act 1979. All EEA investment decisions, including the currency and asset composition of the Account, are made using the following investment principles:
Investment Principle 1 (readiness) – The EEA must be ready to meet its policy objectives at all times, at an acceptable cost and high degree of certainty.
Investment Principle 2 (risk tolerance) – The EEA must not take on risk that compromises the ability to meet Principle 1 or that could unduly influence fiscal metrics.
Investment Principle 3 (return) – Subject to meeting Principles 1 and 2, the EEA should seek to optimise risk-adjusted return
Foreign exchange risk is one of the primary market risks faced by the EEA and so is considered by HMT and the Bank of England when making decisions assessing the EEA’s risk tolerance under Investment Principle 2. A portion of EEA assets are also hedged against foreign exchange and interest rate changes.
To manage credit risk, the Bank maintains a framework of issuer credit limits. A similar framework applies to counterparty risk.
The EEA has held 9.98 million ounces of gold on a permanent basis since March 2002 and it remains an important component of the diversified portfolio.
The Bank of England publishes a monthly statistical release setting out the EEA’s holdings split by broad asset class on the third working day at: UK International Reserves - August 2026. In addition, each quarter, one month in arrears, data on the currency breakdown of the UK’s reserves is published by the Bank of England at: Bank of England | Database.