Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will publish a detailed breakdown of how other departments' capital budgets have been reduced in order to fund the Defence Investment Plan.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In June, the government announced £15 billion between 2026-27 and 2029-30 for the Defence Investment Plan. It confirmed that £10.3 billion would be funded by reprioritising public spending, with details set out at:
The Defence Investment Plan Funding explainer - GOV.UK
To fund the residual £4.7 billion, Budget 2026 confirms that departmental capital budgets will be reduced by a further 1% from 2027-28 to 2029-30 to raise £3 billion, and an additional £1.7 billion will be funded from unallocated contingency in the Treasury’s capital Reserve.
Updated departmental capital budgets, which reflect these changes, were published at Budget 2026.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which day-to-day funding streams will be cut in 2027/28 in line with the RDEL forecast detailed in the Autumn Budget.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is increasing defence spending with the biggest uplift since the end of the Cold War.
There will be no reduction in funding streams as a result of the forecast RDEL change set out in the Autumn Budget.
This is a technical adjustment to RDEL budgets, equal to the amount the Department no longer needs to spend on pensions due to lower pension contributions resulting from the 2024 public sector pensions valuation.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to UK businesses of cyber attacks in each year since 2015.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes cyber attacks against Defence and its supply chain seriously. While the MOD does not track the cost of cyber attacks to UK businesses, it supports cross-Government work to strengthen the UK through the National Cyber Action Plan.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of joining the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK and Canada share a common objective of strengthening Allied defence industrial capacity through closer international cooperation.
We have been working closely to consider how the Multilateral Defence Mechanism and Defence, Security and Resilience Bank can work together. We have agreed to develop a framework of cooperation between these initiatives and having mutually concluded that separate but complementary institutions, working in partnership, offer the most effective approach.
As the two institutions are operationalised, they are expected to work in close partnership to support emerging industrial priorities, investment opportunities and strategic financing challenges, helping to strengthen the defence industrial base and enhance Allied defence readiness.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to UK businesses of cyber attacks in each year since 2015.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Recent research commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as was, models the cost of significant cyber attacks to UK businesses at approximately £14.7 billion in 2024, equivalent to around 0.5% of UK GDP. This is an indicative estimate, using predominantly US data covering a range of private and public-sector organisations to estimate the cost of a significant cyber attack, combined with UK data on the number of businesses estimated to experience such attacks.
The government is clear that decisive action is required to tackle the increasing cyber threat. That is why at the Budget this month, the Chancellor announced an investment of £150 million into cyber defence, including a National Exposure and Real-Time Vulnerability Centre, expansion of public sector AI cyber defence and a national Cyber Shield.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, if he will consider tasking UK Export Finance with assisting UK Defence SMEs in the management of foreign currency exchange rate risk when bidding for contracts.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) keeps its product offer constantly under review. UKEF has considered this problem and has not observed sufficient evidence of any significant gap in the existing market that UKEF could fill while fulfilling its remit to provide support for viable exports at no net cost to the taxpayer.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
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 on the affordability and availability of heating oil in the Lewes constituency.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the particular pressures faced by rural and off-gas-grid households.
In the Lewes constituency specifically, around 5% of households depend on heating oil.
Recent heating-oil price rises have largely reflected higher wholesale costs. Earlier this year, £53 million of targeted support was announced for low-income households affected by higher heating-oil costs via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). The East Sussex county received £567,211 through the CRF to support households dependent on heating oil.
We continue to monitor supply and prices and engage with industry to support resilient supply and fair pricing.
On 13 October 2026, the Government published its response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s study and committed to regulating the heating-oil market for the first time, strengthening fair treatment, transparency, protections for vulnerable households and routes to redress while preserving competition and security of supply.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her department has on the number of households in the Lewes constituency dependent on heating oil.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the particular pressures faced by rural and off-gas-grid households.
In the Lewes constituency specifically, around 5% of households depend on heating oil.
Recent heating-oil price rises have largely reflected higher wholesale costs. Earlier this year, £53 million of targeted support was announced for low-income households affected by higher heating-oil costs via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). The East Sussex county received £567,211 through the CRF to support households dependent on heating oil.
We continue to monitor supply and prices and engage with industry to support resilient supply and fair pricing.
On 13 October 2026, the Government published its response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s study and committed to regulating the heating-oil market for the first time, strengthening fair treatment, transparency, protections for vulnerable households and routes to redress while preserving competition and security of supply.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that care homes in Lewes constituency remain safe and operational during periods of extreme heat.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Adult social care services are largely delivered through an outsourced market of commercial providers and charities. Local authorities must ensure these services remain sustainable and deliver high-quality care, including during adverse weather.
We expect all adult social care providers to follow Government guidance, set out in the UK Health Security Agency’s Adverse Weather and Health Plan. The plan sets out how health and social care organisations, local authorities and wider partners should prepare for and respond to risks such as extreme heat, cold, flooding and droughts. Supporting materials include heat-health alert action cards for care managers in residential settings to aid preparation and response.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of the £5 billion committed to the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, how much will be spent on (a) defence, (b) dual use and (c) other sectors.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At the Budget, the Chancellor announced an additional £20.4bn of capitalisation for the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank. The Chancellor also announced a commitment that National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank will deploy up to £5 billion of investment and lending over the next four years into defence, dual use and other sectors supporting UK national security, sovereign capability, and resilience. This could include areas such as AI, critical minerals, cyber, quantum and advanced manufacturing
Investment across these sectors will depend on the viable opportunities that come forward, with individual investments assessed on a case-by-case basis in line with each institutions’ respective investment framework.