Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how civil-military intelligence is coordinated to feed into the dynamic risk landscape evaluations.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence contributes to the continuous assessment of risks to the UK's national security through established departmental and cross-government mechanisms. Intelligence and analysis from military and civilian sources are integrated with operational, policy and other relevant information to inform assessments of the evolving risk landscape and support decision-making. These assessments are regularly reviewed to ensure that decision-makers have access to timely, relevant and up-to-date information on emerging threats and risks.
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, what accountability mechanisms ensure NHS trusts meet mandatory resilience benchmarks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service trusts and other providers of NHS-funded services are required to maintain emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) arrangements in line with relevant statutory and contractual requirements. The NHS core standards for EPRR guidance provides the common framework against which organisations assess their preparedness.
Providers and commissioners complete an annual self-assessment against the core standards. Organisations are required to report their EPRR readiness and preparedness to their board or governing body, including the outcome of the latest annual assurance process. Integrated care boards lead local assurance of commissioned providers, supported by NHS England regionally, with the national process providing assurance to the NHS England Board and informing the report submitted to the Department and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of MOD spending was awarded directly to SMEs in the financial year 2025-2026.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
When this Government took office, we were not satisfied with the level of direct MOD spend with SMEs and have therefore committed to increase spend with SMEs to £7.5 billion across direct and indirect spend by summer 2028, a significant 50% increase on today.
As outlined in the https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-regional-expenditure-statistics-with-industry-202526/mod-regional-expenditure-with-industry-202526#mod-expenditure-with-small-and-medium-sized-enterprisespublication, in financial year 2025-26 4% of MOD direct expenditure with UK industry was with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the defence contracts awarded by his Department in the financial year 2025-2026 were awarded to SMEs.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As outlined in the UK Defence Footprint 2026 publication, in financial year 2025-26 over 2,000 new contracts were placed by the Ministry of Defence, including over 500 directly with Small and Medium Enterprises.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase SME participation in UK defence procurement.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 September 2026 to question 24337 to the hon. Member for Buckingham and Bletchley (Mr Callum Anderson).
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-08-28/24337
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much additional funding will be invested in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise by 2030.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 21424 from the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens on 8 September 2026.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-08-28/21424
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many new homes have achieved gigabit-capable broadband in South Shropshire constituency in the last two years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department does not hold data on the number of new homes in the South Shropshire constituency that have been provided with gigabit-capable broadband within the last two years. The Building etc. (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 provide for new homes in England to be future-proofed and have access to the fastest broadband. The Regulations require developers of new build homes in England to install the gigabit-ready physical infrastructure necessary for gigabit-capable connections. Additionally, and subject to a £2,000 cost cap per premises, developers need to install a gigabit-capable connection.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how cloud computing providers hosting critical government and commercial data are regulated for business continuity against the risks of failure or disruption.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Large and medium-sized cloud computing providers in the UK are regulated under the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018, which requires them to manage security and resilience risks and report incidents that have a substantial impact on their service. The Information Commissioner oversees and enforces these requirements.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will strengthen these protections further, including through clearer security and resilience requirements to address evolving cyber threats, and expanded reporting of significant incidents.
The government also intends to introduce a mechanism to bring small and micro cloud computing providers into scope where they are high risk, following consultation. This would ensure regulation is focused where disruption could have the greatest impact.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what preparations are underway for the national home defence exercise scheduled for 2027.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence is working closely with the Cabinet Office, who are the lead Government department for Exercise ALBISTON SHADOW 2027. ALBISTON SHADOW will be the largest UK Home Defence exercise in decades, and will involve ministers and officials from across Government.
ALBISTON SHADOW is an important step in enhancing national resilience and preparedness by testing government preparedness for hybrid attacks, through the testing of the refreshed Government War Book, to which Defence is contributing. The Ministry of Defence will participate fully in the exercise, and preparations are underway now, including working with the Cabinet Office in the design and planning of the exercise.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what key performance indicators measure the effectiveness of Orange Book risk management protocols across government.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Departments are responsible for ensuring their risk management arrangements are appropriate to their responsibilities, objectives, and circumstances, and for confirming adherence to, or explaining departures from, the Orange Book principles.
The Risk Centre of Excellence in HM Treasury develops methods, frameworks and toolkits which are helpful to departments when improving risk management. It is developing an approach to assessing risk management performance across government, including organisational and professional capability and the effectiveness of risk management in supporting decision-making and the achievement of priority outcomes.