Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 23 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, what the scope is of the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP) is a multi-year transformation programme aimed at building resilient, agile, and collaborative supply chains underpinning both national security and economic growth.
It is a central delivery vehicle for the Defence Industrial Strategy and the Strategic Defence Review, aligning priorities to safeguard operational and UK sovereignty, industry and warfighting readiness; embedding resilience, and a more transparent, innovative partnership with industry.
The programme is shifting from reactive to proactive supply chain risk management, underpinned by digital innovation. Capabilities including scenario modelling and supply architecture will help anticipate disruptions and assess operational impact. Early industry involvement in capability development—through the Defence Joint Industrial Council—will strengthen collaboration, by providing industry with much more visibility of Ministry of Defence future plans.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on (a) the number of people living with long COVID and (b) the (i) severity and (ii) duration of their symptoms: and what assessment he has made of research required to help improve (A) care and (B) support.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent data from the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 8 February 2024 to 6 March 2024, an estimated 1,140,000 people, or 1.9% of the population, in private households in England and Scotland reported experiencing long COVID-19 symptoms more than twelve weeks after a COVID-19 infection.
Of these, an estimated 839,000 people reported that day-to-day activity had been limited, of which an estimated 251,000 reported that day-to-day activity had been limited a lot.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.
This includes funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines. We continue to fund new studies regularly. A list of trials currently recruiting participants is available via the NIHR Be Part of Research website, at the following link:
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/results/search-results?query=Long%20COVID&location=
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 24 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, what steps he has taken to ensure that cryptography capability is UK-based.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that Crypt-Key is fundamental to the defence and security of the UK. The ability to develop Crypt-Key technologies and capabilities is a strategic imperative for the United Kingdom’s (UK) national security.
The National Crypt-Key Strategy and the Crypt-Key Industrial Strategy were approved by the National Security Council (NSC) in May 2022. The MOD has implemented the core strategy outcomes such as the Cabinet Office Spent Control measures for Crypt-Key and continues to support their full implementation.
The Defence Industrial Strategy (2025) continues to recognise Crypt-Key as a critical sub-sector where strategic imperative requires full, or majority, industrial capability to be UK-based.
The MOD has taken the appropriate steps to ensure alignment to the Crypt-Key strategies.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2025 to Question 77318 on Batteries: Storage, for what reason he does not plan to make fire services statutory consultees on planning applications involving battery energy storage sites.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Planning Practice Guidance strongly recommends that battery developers engage with fire services ahead of the submission of their planning application. However, further to dialogue with the National Fire Chiefs Council, government is of the view that making fire services statutory consultees would risk creating disproportionate administrative burdens for the fire services.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to recommendation 32 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, which senior Ministers sit on the National Security Council (Nuclear) committee.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Membership of the National Security Council (Nuclear) comprises the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Secretary of State for Defence, and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The membership is published on Gov.uk.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the National Security Council (Nuclear) Committee has met since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Membership of the National Security Council (Nuclear) comprises the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Secretary of State for the Home Department, Secretary of State for Defence, and Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The membership is published on Gov.uk.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 45 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published in June 2025, CP 1338, what progress she has made on establishing a new Soft Power Council.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Soft Power Council was launched on 15 January 2025. The Council is supporting the UK to take a more strategic approach to soft power, helping to build relationships, deepen trust, enhance our security and drive economic growth.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her priorities are to tackle illegal immigration; and how these differ from her immediate predecessor.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
As the Home Secretary has set out, she will do whatever it takes to secure our borders; working to restore order to the asylum system, ensuring that the rules are properly respected and enforced, and working upstream to tackle those facilitating illegal migration.
The now embedded Border Security Command (BSC) is leading the national response to preventing small boats crossing the English Channel. The BSC work closely with the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, and overseas counterparts in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Iraq. This collaborative approach has already led to widely publicised raids, arrests, and new bilateral agreements that will further strengthen enforcement and intelligence-sharing over the coming months.
To ensure we restore order to the asylum system, we are committed to meaningful reform of our current immigration system and processes. We will legislate to reform our approach to the application of Article 8 in the immigration system. Alongside this we will also pursue international reform, working closely with our partners in the Council of Europe. These reforms will restore the correct balance between individual rights and the wider public interest of controlling migration.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps she plans to take to support the (a) stability and (b) off-season resilience of the hospitality workforce.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector.
The Government is committed to ending one-sided flexibility ensuring that all jobs provide a baseline of security and predictability, which includes ending exploitative zero hours contracts. We will deliver this commitment through two measures: a right to guaranteed hours, where the number of hours offered reflects the hours worked by the worker during a reference period and new rights to reasonable notice of shift, with proportionate payment for shifts cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice. These additional rights and protections will support stability and off-season resilience for hospitality workers.
In addition, as part of Get Britain Working, and in partnership with UKHospitality, the Government is expanding a Hospitality Sector Work-based Academy Programme pilot to 26 areas, which will help fill vacancies in the hospitality industry.
The Government has been clear that the best way to support workers is to stimulate growth, and we are implementing a number of initiatives to achieve this. For example, we established the Licensing Taskforce and will soon issue call for evidence on a National Licensing Policy Framework which will set out national direction for licensing authorities to consider economic growth and cultural value. The English Devolution Bill will protect businesses from upward only rent clauses, and we are introducing a strong new ‘Community Right to Buy’ to help communities safeguard valued community assets.
Recognising the important role the hospitality sector plays in the visitor economy, the Government has set an ambitious goal to grow inbound tourism to 50 million visitors annually by 2030. To help achieve this, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has established a new Visitor Economy Advisory Council, which is currently helping to co-create a Visitor Economy Growth Strategy, due to be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a national freight crime strategy, including proposals for criminal law measures, and on what timeframe.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government understands the significant and damaging impact freight crime has on businesses and drivers and we are aware of worrying increases in its frequency.
Whilst there are no plans to introduce a national freight crime strategy, we will continue to work with law enforcement agencies and invested stakeholders to change the unacceptable perception that freight crime is low risk and high reward and find solutions which will tackle it.
There are strong links between freight crime and serious, organised crime, which is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK and estimated to cost the economy at least £47 billion annually.
This Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms, and we are continuing to work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.
The DfT also hosts the Freight Council; this group regularly discusses crime against freight companies, and the Home Office works closely with DfT to engage with the sector on this issue through the Freight Council.