Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 442 of the Intelligence and Security Committee's report entitled Iran, published on 10 July 2025, what steps he is taking to update the Government's strategic approach to Iran.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government thanks the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for its independent report on Iran. The Government will respond fully to the recommendations and conclusions in the report, in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report entitled Iran, published on 10 July 2025, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on whether the Government plans to change its Counter State Threats Strategy to address the concerns in paragraph 12; what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the steps the Government plans to take to support the intelligence community in improving its understanding of the Iranian threats listed in paragraph 15; what steps his Department is taking to help support Israel to defend itself against Iranian threats; and what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to counter the risk of an increased threat from the Iranian Intelligence Services to the Government as set out in paragraph 106.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government thanks the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for its independent report on Iran. The Government will respond fully to the recommendations and conclusions in the report, in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee's report entitled Iran, published on 10 July 2025, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on steps to help counter threats from Iran to compromise UK academic institutions.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government thanks the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for its independent report on Iran. The Government will respond fully to the recommendations and conclusions in the report, in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what lessons his Department has learnt from countering malicious Iranian cyber activity; and what discussions he has had with his (a) Middle Eastern and (b) international counterparts on this matter.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) assesses that Iran-based threat actors remain aggressive in cyberspace and continue to achieve their objectives through less sophisticated cyber techniques (including prolific use of spear-phishing), but also targeting industrial control systems.
The NCSC continues to work closely with government, industry and international partners to understand and mitigate the cyber threat from Iran. This includes the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In September 2024, the UK and the US jointly issued a Technical Advisory focusing on attackers working on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps use social engineering to gain access to victims' online accounts. This Advisory provided network defenders with information to help mitigate these threats.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ministers and officials raise the UK's concerns about the cyber threat regularly with their international counterparts, including the activities of particular states where appropriate. The UK works with international partners to ensure the perpetrators of malicious cyber activity are held to account, and will continue to expose and take action against such groups to make it clear that irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace will have serious consequences.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Israel, (b) the US and (c) other strategic partners in the region on Iran’s nuclear programme since June 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary has had extensive discussions with Foreign Minister Sa'ar and Secretary Rubio on 22 June regarding how to tackle what remains of Iran's nuclear programme after major US and Israeli strikes on its facilities. Our objective is to encourage Iran to return to talks to reach a lasting diplomatic solution. We have also spoken to the Gulf Cooperation Council and other regional partners to this end since 13 June, as well as the Iranians on numerous occasions. We will continue to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal, including UN snapback if necessary, to reach a diplomatic solution.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help prevent Iran resuming its nuclear programme.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Alongside his French and German counterparts, the Foreign Secretary continues to work with Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Araqchi towards a durable nuclear deal which ensures Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. Military action alone cannot solve this issue for the long term. We'll continue to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, including the snapback mechanism, if necessary.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear programme since June 2025; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of strikes from Israel and the US on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office continues to have regular dialogue with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at all levels, including via our Permanent Mission in Vienna and the Foreign Secretary. The Foreign Secretary last spoke to Director General Grossi on 26 June. We have taken every opportunity, including a public E3 statement on 30 June, to reiterate our support for the Director General and the IAEA's mandate in Iran, urging the Iranians to abide by their legal commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The IAEA has as yet not been able to report on the state of Iran's nuclear programme following US and Israeli strikes and I will not comment on intelligence matters in this response.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what date she plans to bring the Greater Anglia franchise under public ownership; and when she plans to publish her (a) business plan for the management of the Greater Anglia franchise, (b) income and expenditure forecasts for the Greater Anglia franchise for each of the next five years, (c) plans for ticket pricing for each of the next five years, (d) plans for ticket office opening hours for each of the next five years, (e) the performance standards and targets for each of the next five years and (f) funding plans for (i) railway stations, (ii) tracks and signalling and (iii) rolling stock for each of the next five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Greater Anglia’s services will transfer into public ownership on 12 October 2025. A Services Agreement setting out Secretary of State requirements will be put in place for the new publicly owned operator, and this will be made available on the Department for Transport’s website in due course. The Services Agreement will require train operating companies to publish information on targets, outturn performance, and the ongoing development of the customer offer on a regular basis at stations, on their website and in other formats on request.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which rail infrastructure schemes on the Great East Main Line she will plans to implement; and which she has cancelled since July 2024.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State updated Parliament on the 7th of July regarding those rail infrastructure schemes which will progress following completion of the Spending Review. We’re prioritising the schemes that will make the greatest difference for passengers and freight and drive economic growth as soon as possible. The previous government had announced a number of schemes that were unfunded. The new station at Beaulieu Park is due to open on the Great Eastern Main Line by the end of this year.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her statement of 8 July 2025 on Road and Rail Projects, column 815, what is the forecast annual expenditure for each of the 50 schemes in each of the next ten financial years; and what is the total estimated cost of each scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are committed to providing transparency about our investment plans, to provide certainty and stability for industry and other stakeholders.
For schemes on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and Major Road Network (MRN), £24 billion of capital funding is being provided between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads. Scheme costs for the SRN schemes will be confirmed as part of the setting of the third Road Investment Strategy, planned to be published by the end of March 2026.
For MRN schemes, individual financial details cannot be provided as doing so would jeopardise procurement exercises and contract negotiations.
All rail projects referenced in the Secretary of State’s statement are fully funded from the £10.2bn allocated to enhancements over 2026/27-2029/30. We expect to provide further detail on scheme profiles in due course.
The National Infrastructure and Services Transformation Authority (NISTA) has also now published a first version of the Infrastructure Pipeline. All of the projects referred to in the Secretary of State’s statement are included in the Pipeline, although at a portfolio level. The Pipeline will be updated and improved every six months.