Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to respond to the Freedom of Information Act request by the hon. Member for Huntingdon, dated 9 March 2026.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office responded to the Hon. Member's request for information on 21 April.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Gordon Brown held discussions with the government of Mauritius in 2009 on the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before ProrogationAsked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister visited Australia in April 2026.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister visited Australia in April 2026 to build critical policy and security links with state and regional authorities in Australia. This included defence visits for the AUKUS programme, and discussions with Ministers at both Federal and State level and with private sector stakeholders on support for British businesses, bolstering regional security and learnings about harnessing technology to modernise public services based on learnings from the Australian government their successes and challenges as pioneers in providing online government services. State-level meetings included understanding the context for the roll out of the New South Wales state digital ID pilot and visiting South Australia to highlight the extent of UK-Australian cooperation, focusing particularly on secure growth, including opportunities presented by the AUKUS programme.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made in updating the Government War Book.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK has well-developed contingency plans to respond to a wide range of eventualities. The plans and supporting arrangements have been developed, refined and tested over many years. They are risk-based, built on the principle of generic capabilities able to respond to a wide range of events, augmented by specific, niche capabilities, where needed and warranted by the risk.
Developing plans for civilian assistance to the military in a time of conflict is a key component of the Cabinet Office’s Home Defence Programme (HDP). It is an ongoing programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK. This work is informed by and reflects the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which preparedness plans have been scrutinised by the UK Resilience Academy since April 2025.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK Government is committed to enhancing the provision of independent advice and external challenge to UK preparedness plans. The Government has therefore committed to convene a number of independent panels to scrutinise UK whole-system risks. This was announced in the Resilience Action Plan and forms the Government’s response to the COVID-19 Module 1, Recommendation 10.
The Cabinet Office has now developed an independent assurance programme, covering the most significant risks in the classified National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA). This draws on independent experts from across sectors outside government to ensure impartial, credible assurance, and offer recommendations on improvements that can be made.
In December 2025, the Cabinet Office, working with the UK Resilience Academy, delivered a pilot to help us further refine and strengthen our independent assurance processes ahead of launching the full programme. Lessons learnt from this will inform planning for future whole-system risks, as set out in the internal NSRA.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason did National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on 23 March 2026.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The National Security Adviser meets with a range of individuals and organisations as part of his role providing advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on national security matters. Such meetings are often sensitive in nature, and the Government does not routinely comment on them or their content.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, by when will his department answer question 113290, published on 12 February 2026.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A response has been issued here.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer question 113304, published on 12 February 2026.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A response has been issued here.
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 Sub-Committee (Resilience) has met since July 2024.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is a long-established precedent that information about Cabinet and its Committees, including the discussions that have taken place, how often they have met and attendance, 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, what his planned timetable is for determining the spending that will count towards the 1.5% of GDP to be spent on resilience and security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
NATO has already agreed the definition of 1.5% as spend “to inter alia protect critical infrastructure, defend networks, ensure civil preparedness and resilience, innovate, and strengthen the defence industrial base”. Officials are currently working through proposals and plans for meeting our obligations will be set out in due course.