Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) oversight, (b) involvement, (c) responsibility and (d) accountability he has have for decisions relating to the closure of documents to the public for any period of time.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In accordance with the statutory Code of Practice on the management of records, Ministry of Defence (MOD) Ministers have the authority to make a final decision on the closure (and continued closure) of records. However day-to-day management of Defence records (including the application of closure periods) is delegated to authorised MOD officials operating under the authority of the Departmental Records Officer, who ensures Departmental compliance with its statutory obligations under the Public Records Act 1958. Decisions on the closure of documents take into account sensitivities such as national security, personal data, and operational considerations.
For personal information and information linked to identifiable living individuals, the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives advocate a closure period of the ‘lifetime’ of the data subject. This assumes a lifetime of 100 years but will be graduated from the age or assumed age of the youngest individual in the record.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what oversight, involvement, responsibility and accountability Ministers have for decisions relating to the closure of documents to the public for 100 years.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In accordance with the statutory Code of Practice on the management of records, Ministry of Defence (MOD) Ministers have the authority to make a final decision on the closure (and continued closure) of records. However day-to-day management of Defence records (including the application of closure periods) is delegated to authorised MOD officials operating under the authority of the Departmental Records Officer, who ensures Departmental compliance with its statutory obligations under the Public Records Act 1958. Decisions on the closure of documents take into account sensitivities such as national security, personal data, and operational considerations.
For personal information and information linked to identifiable living individuals, the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives advocate a closure period of the ‘lifetime’ of the data subject. This assumes a lifetime of 100 years but will be graduated from the age or assumed age of the youngest individual in the record.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many a) CPM Wilson-Plus and b) CPM Watson-Plus drone jammers have been procured across police and security agencies.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office supports operational partners to develop appropriate counter-drone capabilities to ensure they are able to mitigate the possible threat from the misuse of drones. Procurement decisions are made by those organisations and we do not hold directly manage the specific choices which operational partners such as the police and security agencies make in this area. We also do not comment on specific details of the national police counter-drone capability.
The National Police Chiefs' Council Counter-Drones Unit provide strategic leadership to policing on counter-drones capabilities. Whilst the Home Office work closely with the NPCC, Chief Constables make their own decisions on what equipment to procure.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2026 to Question 124840 on National Security Council: Disclosure of Information, if he will make it his policy to make a statement to Parliament on the conclusions of the leak inquiry once it is no longer live and it has concluded.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
In line with the policy of successive administrations, we do not comment on live leak inquiries.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 28 April 2026, to Question 12480 on National Security Council: Disclosure of Information, whether the National Security Council leak inquiry has concluded.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
In line with the policy of successive administrations, we do not comment on live leak inquiries.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 24 March 2026 to Question 119906 on National Security Council: Disclosure of Information, whether the leak inquiry has concluded.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Secretary of State for Defence
In line with the policy of successive administrations, we do not comment on live leak inquiries.
Asked by: John Whitby (Labour - Derbyshire Dales)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of policy measures adopted in Germany to improve energy efficiency and waste heat utilisation in data centres.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
To address the growing energy demands of AI, the AI Energy Council was established. The Council offers expert insights into preparing the UK’s energy system to manage AI’s energy footprint, as well as harnessing AI’s potential within a modern energy system - aligned with the Clean Power 2030 goals.
Heat network zoning will enable heat sources to be connected to a network. This will allow for strategic heat networks to be built across the country, making use of recoverable heat sources, including data centres, where available.
The department is undertaking research into best practice for connecting heat sources to heat networks. This includes learning from national and international case studies.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police funding to respond to incidents involving the misuse of unmanned drones in residential areas in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office coordinates the government’s counter-drone policy. We lead work to understand potential risks posed by the misuse of drones and emerging technologies to ensure we have the right capabilities, personnel, training and powers to address these risks.
In 2019, the Home Office supported the creation of the National Police Chiefs' Council Counter-Drones Unit to provide strategic leadership to policing on counter-drones capabilities; how and when the police use their powers and capabilities is an operational matter. The Home Office maintains the importance of operational independence and does not routinely comment on operational decision making or individual force funding decisions. However, the Home Office does work closely with the police to ensure that they provide the appropriate information and training to local forces who may need to respond to reports of the possible misuse of drones.
The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act, National Security Act, and upcoming Armed Forces Bill provide police and others with powers to respond to drone misuse. We consistently look for opportunities to update legislation and ensure that police have the powers they need.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current enforcement powers available to police to respond to reports of unmanned drones operating near residential properties.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office coordinates the government’s counter-drone policy. We lead work to understand potential risks posed by the misuse of drones and emerging technologies to ensure we have the right capabilities, personnel, training and powers to address these risks.
In 2019, the Home Office supported the creation of the National Police Chiefs' Council Counter-Drones Unit to provide strategic leadership to policing on counter-drones capabilities; how and when the police use their powers and capabilities is an operational matter. The Home Office maintains the importance of operational independence and does not routinely comment on operational decision making or individual force funding decisions. However, the Home Office does work closely with the police to ensure that they provide the appropriate information and training to local forces who may need to respond to reports of the possible misuse of drones.
The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act, National Security Act, and upcoming Armed Forces Bill provide police and others with powers to respond to drone misuse. We consistently look for opportunities to update legislation and ensure that police have the powers they need.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the ability of police forces to (a) identify and (b) locate operators of unmanned drones suspected of misuse.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office coordinates the government’s counter-drone policy. We lead work to understand potential risks posed by the misuse of drones and emerging technologies to ensure we have the right capabilities, personnel, training and powers to address these risks.
In 2019, the Home Office supported the creation of the National Police Chiefs' Council Counter-Drones Unit to provide strategic leadership to policing on counter-drones capabilities; how and when the police use their powers and capabilities is an operational matter. The Home Office maintains the importance of operational independence and does not routinely comment on operational decision making or individual force funding decisions. However, the Home Office does work closely with the police to ensure that they provide the appropriate information and training to local forces who may need to respond to reports of the possible misuse of drones.
The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act, National Security Act, and upcoming Armed Forces Bill provide police and others with powers to respond to drone misuse. We consistently look for opportunities to update legislation and ensure that police have the powers they need.