Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what options are open to communities if local resilience plans are deemed inadequate during public consultations.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is no general requirement under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 for responders to undertake public consultation on emergency plans before adopting them. Category 1 responders have duties under the Act to assess risk, maintain emergency plans and make information available to the public, but these do not amount to a general requirement to consult the public on the contents of those plans.
Communities can raise concerns about local emergency planning with the relevant responder or Local Resilience Forum so that they can be considered through local review and improvement arrangements. Where there are concerns about LRF performance, MHCLG will engage and work with the LRF to support improvements. In extreme cases the Civil Contingencies Act also provides for government enforcement where responders fail to perform their statutory duties.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in what way differences between local resilience assessments and central government projections are met.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local Resilience Forums assess the risks facing their areas, drawing on the Government’s national risk assessment alongside local evidence and expertise. Differences between national and local assessments are expected, reflecting local circumstances, vulnerabilities and potential impacts.
Government supports a two-way approach, with local evidence informing the national understanding of risk, and national assessments and planning assumptions informing local preparedness. Local and national capability assessments also help identify whether capabilities are sufficient to manage assessed risks and where further action may be required. This helps ensure that differences between local and national assessments are understood and reflected in resilience planning and preparedness.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what are the procurement dates for enhanced precision weapons.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK and Germany signed a Memorandum of Understanding in early 2026 to work together to develop and deliver new Deep Precision Strike weapon system. Concepting work between both nations has commenced with development contracts anticipated from 2027.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the £5 million investment into the Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus on UK defence capability.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The £50 million Scotland Defence Growth Deal was announced on 12 March 2026. As part of this, £5 million was announced to support the Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus (AGIC) in Fife. AGIC brings together industry, academia and government to accelerate the delivery of mission critical technologies through large scale advanced manufacturing, innovation and skills development, strengthening national security, resilience and economic growth.
AGIC is already delivering for the defence industry and supporting UK defence capability, and MOD and Scotland Office officials are engaging with key partners to develop the MOD's investment proposition in the facility.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what mechanisms are in place to verify that local authorities spend ring-fenced resilience grants for their intended purposes.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 provides the basis for central government to pay ringfenced grants to local authorities. Ringfenced funding is subject to legal conditions in the grant determination issued by a government department specifying how the funding can be used. Monitoring, reporting or assurance arrangements provide mechanisms to check compliance with grant conditions. The specific arrangements will depend on the grant and are determined by the department or policy team responsible for the relevant grant.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the National Situation Centre (NatCen) is enforcing data-sharing mandates across public bodies to support real-time crisis planning.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The National Situation Centre works with UK Government departments and agencies, Devolved Governments and Local Resilience Forums to share data and information to support emergency planning and crisis response.
I refer to my answer to PQ 35489 on data sharing for crisis response.
The Situation Centre has also provided guidance to public bodies on the principles of Data sharing for national crisis response, published by the Government Analysis Function.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to reply to the email from the hon. Member for South Shropshire dated 23 July 2026 with case reference number SA28336.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I responded to the Hon. Member's correspondence on 11 November.