Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to upgrade the A120 from Hare Green to Harwich.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Through its Safety National Programme, National Highways is considering targeted measures, including junction upgrades, improved signage and road markings, barrier enhancements, and speed management interventions on the A120 between Hare Green and Harwich
Subject to a supportive business case, improvements would be delivered by 2031.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will set out in detail where he expects to be able to fulfill the commitment of £10.7bn included in the spending projections on page 73 of the Defence Investment Plan.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence is committed to efficiency and ensuring every pound spent on Defence is used in the best way for our Armed Forces and the taxpayer. Section 4 of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), published 30 June 2026, outlines our extensive Reform and Efficiency Plan. The total efficiency commitment of £10.7 billion over the period FY2026-27 to FY2029-30 identified in the Defence Investment Plan is broken down by key delivery area at Table 18. This includes service redesign, reductions to the Civil Service workforce, reduced expenditure on External Assistance, leveraging the use of digital and AI, driving efficiency through our estate and infrastructure and a reformed approach to acquisition. The detail of which is set out in Section 4 of the DIP. Table 21 provides a breakdown of the expected delivery of this efficiency target across each year from 2026-27 to 2029-30, split by Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL - with a total target of £7 billion) and Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL - with a total target of £3.7 billion), and the level of maturity of these plans. Delivery is backed by an additional £500 million investment from the Exchequer as part of a ring-fenced Transformation Fund to accelerate productivity enhancing investments.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consider allowing the export of live animals to the EU as part of the dynamic alignment provisions of the proposed sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the EU.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not currently prohibit the export of live animals to the EU, except for slaughter and fattening. This Government is currently negotiating a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and regulatory barriers for British producers and retailers. These negotiations are ongoing, and this Government will not be providing a running commentary. Details of the Agreement are subject to negotiation, but this Government has been clear about the importance of being able to set high animal welfare standards.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made by her Department of the statistical reliability of the OBR's claim that the UK economy is growing more slowly than if the UK had remained in the EU after 2021; and if she will set out the analysis, facts and arguments behind the assessment.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government’s independent official forecaster and is responsible for producing economic and fiscal forecasts.
The OBR has included assessments of the economic impacts of leaving the EU in its forecasts since 2016. In March 2020 the OBR estimated that GDP will be 4% lower in the long run than it would have been had the UK not withdrawn from the EU. As of the Spring Forecast 2026, the OBR’s assumptions were unchanged from its previous assessment.
The OBR is required to produce a Forecast Evaluation Report (FER) each year under the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act (2011). The OBR is required to explain the reasons for divergence between its forecasts and subsequent outturns, to support future forecast improvements. The OBR’s latest FER was published in June 2026 and can be found on its website.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of measures proposed in the EU reset on economic growth, taking account costs on business and the taxpayer of, inter allia, i) new regulations and directives brought into force by the EU since the UK left the EU and to be imposed on the UK; ii) payments which will be required to be paid to the EU by the UK.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
At a time of great global uncertainty, we must deepen our relationships with allies whose values we share and whose interests are tied to our own. This is why we will pursue a closer relationship with the EU where it is in our national interest to do so.
The Government is committed to providing appropriate analysis of any agreement that ius made with the EU. The Government estimates that the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS) and Emissions Trade Scheme Linking (ETS) will add up to £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040.
The 2025 UK-EU Common Understanding sets out that the SPS, ETS and electricity agreements will include appropriate financial contributions.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of leaving the EU on the underlying growth rate of the UK economy; and what recent analysis her Department has undertaken on that issue.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the government’s official forecaster. The OBR has included assessments of the economic impacts of leaving the EU in its forecasts since 2016. In March 2020 the OBR estimated that, as a result of the deal negotiated by the then government, GDP will be 4% lower in the long run than it would have been had the UK not withdrawn from the EU. As of the Spring Forecast 2026, these assumptions are unchanged from its previous assessment.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the assessments made by UKSV arising from the developed vetting of individuals proposed for public appointments since the enactment of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 come into force.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UKSV does not centrally categorise individuals by their specific terms of appointment, such as whether they are a public appointee.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters, including providing granular data on the volumes of specific clearance types.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK electricity that will pass through the Bramford substation (a) in an average year and (b) at periods of highest demand through Bramford after the Norwich to Tilbury proposals have been commissioned.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she will give a substantive reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex dated 18 November 2025 on the road/rail crossing at Manningtree.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A response was sent on 12th March.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his decision for postpone the Mayoral election in Essex, if he will make an estimate of the cost to local authorities of the preparations for that election, including the (a) the actual disbursement of local authorities which cannot be reclaimed and (b) value of the time worked on preparations for those elections by local authority officers and employees.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
No assessment has been made by central government. Spend on these elections is a matter for the relevant local authorities.