Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with local partners to ensure the availability of (a) parenting and (b) other programmes to improve the mental health of (i) infants, (ii) children and (iii) young people mental health.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a bold new ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever. Launched in August 2022, the three-year Family Hubs and Start for Life programme provides approximately £300 million to 75 local authorities in England with high levels of deprivation, to improve outcomes for families with babies. This includes £100 million for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support, laying the foundations for cognitive, emotional, and physical development.
Nationally, we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across children and adult mental health services to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on busy children and young people’s mental health services.
We will also provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England, so that mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We will also roll out open access Young Futures hubs for children and young people in every community. This national network is expected to bring local services together to deliver support for teenagers at risk of being drawn into crime or facing mental health challenges.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Surface to Air Missile Centre command and control systems, (b) Giraffe Agile Multibeam radars and (c) Land Ceptor launcher and missile systems comprising the Sky Sabre system are deployed in (i) the UK (ii) Poland and (iii) the Falklands.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We do not routinely disclose the locations or numbers of these platforms in the interests of security and operational effectiveness.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his (a) planned timetable and (b) key milestones for success are for the DIAMOND initiative.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In October the UK signed a letter of intent on DIAMOND (Delivering Integrated Air and Missile Operational Networked Defences) alongside six Allies: France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden. We are working with these countries to agree the timetable for actions. A priority for the UK is making greater use of training and exercises opportunities, such as Exercise Formidable Shield in May 2025.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects Challenger 3 to be deployed to Estonia.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As announced by the Secretary of State for Defence, the British Army will deploy Challenger 3 tanks to NATO’s eastern border along with armoured vehicles in future years. However, details relating to the fielding plan for Challenger 3 are yet to be confirmed.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on integrated air and missile defence in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) is cross-government, multi-layered approach, utilising a wide range of advanced capabilities alongside our Allies as an international effort. There has been wide-ranging investment across the full range of IAMD capabilities since 2010, including the Sky Sabre air defence system. However, with this multi-layered, international approach, detailed investment costings for all IAMD capabilities over a fourteen year period are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding has been allocated to the European Long-range Strike Approach programme.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA) is a multinational framework. Participating nations will consider capability cooperation programmes under the ELSA framework, to be funded on a case-by-case basis. The outcomes of the Strategic Defence Review will determine the UK's future programme choices.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on establishing an integrated air and missile defence system for the UK.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Air and missile defence is a 24/7, cross-Government and international effort. We take a layered approach to air and missile defence deploying a wide range of advanced capabilities alongside our Allies. Without pre-determining the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), threats from missiles and drones are advancing and proliferating, and we will explore options to enhance our preparedness for these threats as part of the SDR.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has (a) allocated to and (b) spent on the air protection laser self-protection system.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence is working with several industry partners to generate a UK Defensive Aids Suite in order to provide Air Platform Protection for all three services. Under the banner of Team Pellonia, working with Thales, Leonardo, and Chemring Countermeasures, Air Command, supported by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), is cohering activity to generate and deliver a future suite of air platform protection measures, of which a laser self-protection system is one component. Supported by research funding from various areas within The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and now a Defence Equipment and Supply (DE&S) Programme, successful trials involving scientists from Dstl and Industry Partners on the Air Protection Laser Self-Protection System offer an example of joint working between the MOD and the UK Defence Industry.
Detailed Programme costs cannot be provided in the interests of National Security.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help increase levels of humanitarian aid into Myanmar.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has provided more than £150 million for life-saving humanitarian assistance, healthcare, education and support for civil society and local communities in Myanmar. Most recently, the UK Government provided £1.3 million to help address the impact of the severe flooding in September.
The UK takes a multi-pronged approach to improving humanitarian aid and access: i) we work through channels including the UN Security Council and ASEAN to call for funding and unrestricted humanitarian access in Myanmar; and ii) the UK directs funding to local civil society organisations, overcoming humanitarian access restrictions to support the most vulnerable and hard to reach communities.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to disrupt the activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the UK.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not routinely comment on the detail of operational matters or specific threats. But national security is the first duty of any government, and we take any malicious activity that might pose a significant threat to our security and public safety extremely seriously.
Iran’s malign activity, including the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The UK has more than 450 sanctions designations in place on Iranian individuals and entities, in response to the regime's human rights violations, nuclear weapons programme, malign influence internationally and state threats. The UK has also sanctioned the IRGC in its entirety, with the IRGC Intelligence Chief most recently being sanctioned this month.
The National Security Act 2023 provides a significant toolkit for our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies in the fight against state threats. This means that the UK is now a harder target for those states which seek to conduct hostile acts against the UK, including espionage, interference in our political system, sabotage and assassination.
In concert with partners, the UK Government will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and its overseas interests against any threats from the Iranian state.