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 70 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what his planned timetable is for making these day-to-day processes easier.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan (which is part of our Defence Investment Plan) to be published in the autumn, will include initiatives that will deliver automation across Human Resources, Finance and Commercial functions, driven through Corporate Services Modernisation that will deliver improved processes through new automated tools and systems across the functions.
The specific automation savings and timelines across all workforces are currently being defined in detail to meet the Strategic Defence Review recommendations. The benefits and associated financial savings with these initiatives along with the timelines to deliver this are subject to the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan. The automation of HR, Financial and Commercial processes will enable Defence to redeploy Armed Forces Personnel from administrative roles to Front Line roles.
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 70 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made on gathering recommendations for independent oversight of his plan to tackle (a) structural, (b) behavioural and (c) leadership barriers within the workforce.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 September 2025 to Question 70723 to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge).
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Social Work England’s decision to raise annual registration fees on the (a) recruitment, (b) retention and (c) wellbeing of social workers; and whether her Department plans to (i) review and (ii) mitigate that increase.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
After undertaking a consultation exercise, Social Work England has increased registration and renewal fees. Social Work England released an equality impact assessment alongside their consultation response.
Registration and renewal fees have not increased since 2015 and the decision to increase fees was necessary to ensure the continuation of effective regulation of the social worker profession, thereby ensuring the protection of the public.
Social workers may be able to claim tax on professional member fees. Details on how to do this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/professional-fees-and-subscriptions.
Additionally, social workers have the option to pay registration and renewal fees in full or in two instalments in October and the following April.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to ensure that funding through the School Rebuilding Programme is spent in line with (a) net zero standards and (b) sustainability goals.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department commits to a wide range of actions in our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, including a requirement that all new school buildings we deliver are net-zero carbon in operation and are adapted to climate change. The strategy can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy.
All schools funded through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) have been designed to meet this standard, supporting the UK’s 25-year Environment Plan by requiring all projects to increase their level of greening in support of biodiversity net gain. The design principles of our output specification for SRP will ensure sites are more resilient to the impact of climate change and buildings delivered will achieve net zero carbon in operation.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Libraries for Primaries campaign.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department welcomes the work of the Libraries for Primaries campaign and others, who work to support children’s reading. On 29 September, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, committed over £10 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament. Funding for this scheme will come from £132.5 million of dormant assets unlocked to support young people to access opportunities. The government will set out further details of the scheme in due course.
To support all young people to develop a love of reading, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has announced that 2026 will be the National Year of Reading. The campaign will address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults and aims to engage new audiences in reading and change the national reading culture, both during the year and beyond.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many SEND children without an Education, Health, and Care plan are home schooled.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest statistics on elective home education (EHE), including information on characteristics, are published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education/2024-25-autumn-term
For autumn term 2024/25, 16% of EHE children were recorded as special educational needs support or special educational needs without an education, health and care plan. This compares with 14% of the overall school population.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) Royal Navy and (b) partner forces helicopters are able to use the Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The planned timeline for installation of Glamox HVLAS (Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System) to the remainder of the Batch 2 Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Fleet is aligned to the platform’s five Annual Recertification Maintenance Periods.
An exception to this may be due to operational requirement, or if there is a funding and timing opportunity to enable the advancement of installation work.
Wildcat are the Royal Navy’s cleared aircraft and HVLAS is suitable for all aircraft from Partner Nations, although limited by their size and weight.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his planned timeline is for the installation of the Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System across the batch 2 fleet.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The planned timeline for installation of Glamox HVLAS (Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System) to the remainder of the Batch 2 Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Fleet is aligned to the platform’s five Annual Recertification Maintenance Periods.
An exception to this may be due to operational requirement, or if there is a funding and timing opportunity to enable the advancement of installation work.
Wildcat are the Royal Navy’s cleared aircraft and HVLAS is suitable for all aircraft from Partner Nations, although limited by their size and weight.
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 106 of the Strategic Defence Review 2024, what progress he has made in establishing more flexible regulation in order to facilitate experimentation in autonomy.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Maritime Regulator (DMR) is currently developing several options for defence to consider and progress. These options are being developed in conjunction with defence stakeholders and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and will be presented for consideration by April 2026. The current options vary in scale and scope, but all allow for the unique legislative freedoms afforded to the Royal Navy and to Defence Shipping to be utilised to support the development of Maritime Autonomy. DMR is supporting the ongoing development of the MCA’s own maritime autonomy programme as the two organisations strive to deliver safe and environmentally sound shipping in the defence and civil sectors.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 34 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what recent progress he has made in determining what the post-Dreadnought nuclear deterrent would be.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is fully committed to the United Kingdom’s independent nuclear deterrent, underpinned by our triple lock commitment to continue to build the four new Dreadnought Class submarines, maintain our continuous at sea deterrent and deliver all the required upgrades, including the replacement warhead.
The Government has accepted all of the Strategic Defence Review’s recommendations, including the need to start to define the requirement for the post-Dreadnought nuclear deterrent within this Parliament, and is currently working to progress this.