Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the threat posed to the UK by Russian hypersonic-capable missile systems operated by the Russian Northern Fleet.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence keeps Russian military capabilities and investment under continuous review. We work closely with our NATO Allies to understand the implications of Russian military capability development for Alliance security. NATO is strengthening its deterrence and defence as a result of the increasing threat from Russia and will continue to adapt as necessary.
Hypersonic missiles are just one type of many Russian air and missile capabilities. In light of the increasing threat the UK faces, His Majesty's Government announced up to £1 billion of investment for Integrated Air and Missile Defence in the Strategic Defence Review.
This is part of a comprehensive and integrated approach to deterring and defending against the range of strategic threats we face.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of recent upgrades to the Russian Northern Fleet, including the commissioning of Borei-A class ballistic missile submarines and modernization of surface combatants such as Admiral Nakhimov.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence keeps Russian military capabilities and investment under continuous review. We work closely with our NATO Allies to understand the implications of Russian military capability development for Alliance security. NATO is strengthening its deterrence and defence as a result of the increasing threat from Russia and will continue to adapt as necessary.
Hypersonic missiles are just one type of many Russian air and missile capabilities. In light of the increasing threat the UK faces, His Majesty's Government announced up to £1 billion of investment for Integrated Air and Missile Defence in the Strategic Defence Review.
This is part of a comprehensive and integrated approach to deterring and defending against the range of strategic threats we face.
Asked by: Marie Rimmer (Labour - St Helens South and Whiston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of disaster recovery planning at the Legal Aid Agency prior to the cyber-attack of April 2025.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We take the security of people’s personal data extremely seriously.
Firstly, to ensure transparency about the cyber- attack and that we reached as many potentially impacted individuals as possible, the Ministry of Justice published a notice shortly after it became aware of the criminal cyber-attack at 08:15 on 19 May on GOV.UK
The notice provided information about the cyber-attack and directed concerned members of the public to the National Cyber Security Centre’s webpage, which contained information on how to protect against the impact of a data breach.
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) also set up dedicated Customer Services support via a telephone line and email for providers and clients who had concerns regarding the data breach. We did not write to all clients, to all the addresses that we had, because some of those addresses would no longer be current, and that would potentially create another data breach in itself.
The published statement referred to above sets out information about who may have been impacted and the nature of the information which may have been accessed. As far as we are aware, no data has been shared or put out in the public domain. An injunction has been put in place to prohibit sharing of this data. Anyone who does so could be sent to prison. If it is identified that a specific individual is at risk, action will be taken to try to contact them.
In the interests of security, we cannot confirm the method by which unauthorised access was gained to the LAA’s online digital systems or details about specific steps taken or measures implemented to protect LAA systems against any future cyber-attacks.
Security of the new systems has been paramount as we have rebuilt the LAA’s digital systems following the attack. The compromised digital portal has been replaced by a new, secure single sign-in tool for LAA online services (SiLAS). SiLAS has been designed and built in line with UK government and industry best practice for secure development. Security has been included from the ground up, including multi factor authentication, with independent testing activities to validate that the appropriate security controls are in place.
A dedicated team will monitor and update the service to ensure it evolves to remain resilient to emerging threats and is supported by a security operations capability. While no system can be entirely risk free, we are confident that we have taken the right steps to protect the service and its users.
Responsibility for disaster recovery planning for digital systems lies with Justice Digital rather than the LAA. Prior to the cyber- attack there was no digital disaster recovery plan in place. However, had we had a fully funded disaster recovery system, any immediate restoration would have simply restored the systems without resolving the vulnerabilities that enabled the cyber- attack to occur. Justice Digital now have a new Service Owner structure in place where clear Service Standards will be defined and monitored. This will include digital disaster recovery plans for each digital product.
Prior to the cyber- attack the LAA had in place prepared business continuity plans for business-critical processes and services to ensure that access to justice could be maintained in the event of a system outage. These plans were tried and tested, and we were confident that the measures would be effective for our initial response. These measures gave us sufficient time to design and implement longer term measures to meet the specific needs of the incident that were introduced in June 2025.
At every stage, we have acted to protect public access to justice and to support providers in delivering legal aid. We have achieved this without affecting court backlogs or police station activity.
Our business continuity planning was effective in maintaining access to justice from the outset of the attack and the need to have longer term options in place is one of the lessons that we have taken from this incident.
A formal lessons learned approach will systematically analyse lessons from the Ministry of Justice’s and LAA’s preparation for and response to the cyber-attack. This work will cover pre-incident risk management and the response to the incident itself. This will inform future resilience planning, governance improvement and risk mitigation strategies across the Ministry of Justice and its agencies.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what number and proportion of pregnant Universal Credit claimants were deemed to have Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity due to pregnancy risk in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Between January 2024 and December 2024 there were 1,150 UC claimants who were deemed to have Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) due to pregnancy risk following a health assessment. Information on all UC claimants who are pregnant is not readily available, so the proportion this represents of all pregnant UC claimants cannot be provided.
Notes:
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of disparities in AI training and support between (a) state and private schools, and (b) high-performing and underperforming schools; and what steps she is taking to address these inequalities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not publish comparative assessments of artificial intelligence (AI) training between school types, but we monitor sector capability through the Technology in Schools Survey, which informs our programmes. Earlier this year we published online support materials to help teachers and leaders use AI safely and effectively, developed with sector experts. Our approach benefits all schools and reduces disparities in access and capability.
Following the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November, we will update the national curriculum to prepare young people for life and work in a changing world. Refreshed programmes of study will include AI, including issues like bias, in addition to digital and media literacy.
To ensure consistency, we are legislating so that academies will be required to teach the refreshed national curriculum alongside maintained schools. Content will be shaped through expert engagement, with a public consultation on draft proposals next year.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of defence industrial capacity to support long-term equipment programmes.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that supply chains are a foundational priority for Defence and is actively engaged in de-risking critical defence supply chain vulnerabilities, working collaboratively with industry to mitigate risks. Central to this is the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP) which is pivotal to ensuring operational readiness and resilience across Defence.
The DSCCP has scoped the work required to address critical minerals and component supply within Defence, with further work aligned to the Government’s “Vision 2035: Critical Mineral Strategy”. The MOD is also developing capabilities to strengthen supply chain readiness and resilience during crises, including Supply Chain Wargaming, Architecture and Category Management. These initiatives will help MOD and industry identify and mitigate risks to equipment programmes, ensuring industry can adequately support defence.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Department is taking to reduce the backlog of Work Capability Assessments and improve the speed of decision making.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions prioritises assessments for new claims to minimise waiting times and ensure claimants receive the right benefit entitlement as soon as possible. However, due to unforeseen high levels of Work Capability Assessments (WCA) required in late 2024, a backlog of reassessment cases built up from individuals reporting a change in their condition before May 2025. We are working with suppliers to increase capacity for clearing this backlog, including by accelerating the recruitment of assessors.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Department has made of the impact of digital-only communications on claimant engagement and error rates.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP are continuing to explore the choice of contact channel to reduce the cost of benefits administration and meet the needs of our customers for faster communication. This is based on customer research. While some customers are already able to access messages digitally this is not the only way in which we communicate with those customers. In the future we expect to expand the scope of our digital communications, but with a customer preference capability to allow customers to control which channel they choose and take account of accessibility needs. All new services and capabilities are assessed for impact on error rates
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what service standards on timeliness are in place for making decisions on Work Capability Assessments; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce these waiting times.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is one part of the process for making a UC or ESA benefit entitlement decision. Health Care Practitioners undertake the Work Capability Assessment and following this functional assessment make a recommendation to the department. Thereafter, a DWP Decision Maker reviews this recommendation and makes the decision on benefit entitlement.
We monitor customer journey times for WCAs, deploying additional staff if required, prioritising urgent cases and addressing backlogs. We consistently prioritise assessments for new claims to minimise waiting times.
Due to unforeseen high levels of WCAs required in late 2024, a backlog of reassessment cases built up from individuals reporting a change in their condition before May 2025. We are working with suppliers to increase capacity for clearing this backlog, including the acceleration of the recruitment of assessors. There are no backlogs within the DWP Decision Making stage.
The UC WCA statistics remain under development with Phase 2 having been completed in September 2024. WCA clearance times will be introduced during phase 4 (there are no timelines). Details of this strategy can be found on gov.uk at the below link. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-wca-statistics-release-strategy/universal-credit-work-capability-assessment-statistics-release-strategy.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the UK’s vulnerability to long-range missile threats, including ballistic and cruise missile systems; and what steps he is taking to strengthen integrated air and missile defence as part of the Strategic Defence Review.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Strategic Defence Review announced up to £1 billion of investment in Integrated Air and Missile Defence. This announcement responds to the threat the UK faces and will shape our future Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability. Work to deliver the Strategic Defence Review recommendations, including on homeland Integrated Air and Missile Defence, will be prioritised appropriately against the assessed threat picture as part of the future Integrated Force and set out in the Defence Investment Plan to be published this year.