Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when will he lift the civil service recruitment controls in his department.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
An initial month-long recruitment pause was introduced in October 2025 across the Department as one of a range of workforce levers to facilitate a measured and sustainable approach to workforce reductions. The pause has been extended and is currently being reviewed. Throughout the pause, business areas have had the flexibility to approve exemptions where there are exceptional pressures.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants have left the Ministry of Defence via the targeted voluntary exit scheme since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Since 5 July 2024, the Ministry of Defence has instigated one targeted voluntary exit scheme; this was launched on 6 Jan 2026. This scheme is Department-wide but targeted at certain professional cohorts and forms part of our response to workforce planning objectives set out in the Strategic Defence Review. This scheme is ongoing and the number of exits will not be known until later in the year. Since 5 July 2024, there have been 39 voluntary exits which can be attributed to localised workforce change activities and not via a targeted scheme such as that currently in operation.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what NATO intelligence functions are based at RAF Wyton.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
No NATO intelligence functions are based at RAF Wyton.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servant positions within the Ministry of Defence were gapped as at (a) 5 July 2024 and (b) 1 February 2026.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In line with recommendations from the Strategic Defence Review the Ministry of Defence aims to reduce Civil Service costs by at least 10% by 2030. To achieve this, the Department is employing a range of workforce levers to facilitate a measured and sustainable approach to workforce reductions. As part of this process, all Civil Service vacancies are being reviewed. Until this work is complete, it is not possible to provide specific numbers of posts vacant or not being actively recruited at the dates requested.
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 Troubler.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Project TROUBLER is currently in the concept phase. As part of this phase, performance, interoperability and complexity are some of the characteristics under consideration. Due to the current phase of the project and commercial sensitivities I am unable to provide further detail at this stage.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the full scope of Project Lily.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The full scope of Project Lily was to include the procurement of a single, contractor supported, commercial off-the-shelf uncrewed surface vessel and a remote operations centre for year-round, global, open ocean operations. The uncrewed surface vessel was for military data gathering and was to include a two-year period of Government owned, commercially operated support before transitioning to a Government owned, Government operated solution with commercial support.
This project was cancelled following a decision to consider alternative internal options to meet this requirement. Should any future procurement be required, details of the opportunity will be published in the usual way via the Defence Sourcing Portal.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the full scope of Project Upham.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Project UPHAM is the name given to pre-concept work undertaken with a view to the future procurement of digital sighting systems for small arms. Given its pre-concept status, the scope and specification of this project have not been defined.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the full scope of Project Goldweed.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Project Goldweed is currently in the delivery phase. Due to operational and commercial sensitivities I am unable to provide any further detail.
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 30 January 2026 to Question 107819 on Military Intelligence, what was the (a) cost and (b) start date of the existing multi‑year contract with Google for Secret‑level cloud hosting and data services.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence awarded the £400 million Secret Community Cloud (SCC) contract to Google Cloud on 8 September 2025, and work began in early October.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the scope of the Royal Navy’s Eagles Eye trials in relation to the development of a naval aviation hybrid air wing.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Eagles Eye Trial is an iterative programme designed to develop the Royal Navy concept of hybrid air wings delivered under the Maritime Aviation Transformation programme.
The Trial focuses on the development of crewed and uncrewed collaboration through the live control of Uncrewed Aerial Systems from a Wildcat Maritime Attack Helicopter.