Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2026, to question 108369 on Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Procurement, on what date was the project cancelled.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 108369 on 3 February 2026 which remains extant. The stop notice of December 2023 denotes the point that the project was cancelled.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the full scope of Project Goshawk.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Project GOSHAWK is a Taskforce Kindred project to rapidly develop and trial a low-cost air defence interceptor for Ukraine, to reliably defeat aerial drones, loitering munitions, and missiles at varying speeds, altitudes, and trajectories.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his proposed timetable is for producing the first Ajax-family vehicles at Capability Drop 4 standard.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Capability drop 4 standard vehicles will only be delivered once any changes from reliability trials have been agreed. As these trials have not yet concluded, it is not appropriate to state what this timetable is. However, based on the current findings, all 589 vehicles will be delivered to Capability Drop 4 standard by September 2029 as contracted.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November to Question 91684 on F-35 Aircraft: Procurement, who is responsible for the definition of a Defence Choice.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) uses its capability planning and decision‑making processes to balance a range of factors and ensure resources are used effectively.
All financial decisions are accounted for in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November to Question 91684 on F-35 Aircraft: Procurement, if he will provide a list of all Defence Choices.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) uses its capability planning and decision‑making processes to balance a range of factors and ensure resources are used effectively.
All financial decisions are accounted for in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has held discussions regarding the number of Anti-Submarine Warfare frigates that will be manufactured as part of the £10 billion deal with Norway.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Indeed, the Secretary of State has been in Norway in the past few days. The Secretary of State engages routinely with his Norwegian counterpart as part of the evolving UK-Norway strategic defence partnership.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel received a pre-discharge mental health assessment in each year since 2015.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
All personnel being discharged from the Armed Forces should receive a Structured Mental Health Assessment (SMHA). The primary intent of the SMHA is to identify any unmet or unaddressed mental health needs prior to discharge.
The following table provides the numbers of UK Armed Forces personnel provided with a SMHA within 120 days of their release medical, by year from 1 January 2015 - 30 September 2025.
Year | SMHA Completed |
2015 | 8,145 |
2016 | 8,661 |
2017 | 9,820 |
2018 | 10,509 |
2019 | 10,442 |
2020 | 6,525 |
2021 | 7,546 |
2022 | 9,734 |
2023 | 10.675 |
2024 | 10,275 |
2025* | 6,911 |
* The number of SMHAs that took place between 1 January 2025 and 30 September 2025 to allow for a 120 day follow up period for completion.
Armed Forces personnel being discharged from service who are already under the care of specialist mental health services should have an SMHA completed, however, in some cases this may not be necessary where the individual’s needs are already being met through those specialist services.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many dedicated mental health professionals there are per capita across the military; and how many have there been each year since 2015.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how his Department plans to replace the batch 1 River Class of ships.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All decisions on capabilities will be taken in the Defence Investment Plan.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of officers who pass the selection board are privately educated.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Officer training in the UK Armed Forces is accessible to any UK citizen who meets the academic, aptitude, physical and medical requirements, irrespective of the candidate’s social background or type of education.
Of the intake to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (Army) who are due to commission on 10 April 2026, 37% were independently educated. No other information in scope of these questions is held by the single Services.