March 2026 was the best-performing rail period on the route for three years and therefore represents an unusually strong comparator. From early January to mid-September 2026, the overall cancellation rate at Huntingdon was 6.05 per cent, an improvement compared with 7.29 per cent over the equivalent period in 2025.

The increase in the number of cancellations between March and August reflected an increase in the number of disruptive incidents, infrastructure failures and reduced rolling-stock availability, while temporary speed restrictions across the network following exceptionally hot and dry weather also contributed to disruption.

Greater Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail continue to work together to improve service reliability and reduce disruption for passengers travelling to and from Huntingdon.

March 2026 was the best-performing rail period on the route for three years and therefore represents an unusually strong comparator. From early January to mid-September 2026, Time to 3 (T-3) at Huntingdon station was 80.4 per cent, an improvement compared with 78.2 per cent over the equivalent period in 2025.

The reduction in Time to 3 between March and August reflects an increase in disruptive incidents, infrastructure failures and reduced rolling-stock availability, while temporary speed restrictions across the network following exceptionally hot and dry weather also contributed to disruption.

Greater Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Network Rail continue to work together to improve the service and reduce disruption for passengers travelling to and from Huntingdon.

The UK Biological Security Strategy operates on an integrated One Health approach, recognising the links between human, animal, and environmental health to protect the UK from biological threats.

The UK Biological Security Strategy does not govern private laboratories or breeding facilities. These facilities are regulated by the Home Office’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

The Act recognises that maintaining a robust sovereign preclinical research capability is essential to delivering key commitments for the government's ambitions across life sciences. In particular, the rapid development and scaling of vaccines and therapeutics within 100 days.

In November 2025, the former Science Minister published a £75 million Replacing Animals in Science strategy, which looks to accelerate the phase-out of animal testing using non-animal technologies.

The renal dialysis service will remain at Hinchingbrooke Hospital while the integrated care board, the trust, and NHS England continue work to ensure the service meets expected local demand. Discussions are taking place locally on the future provisions of the service. When there is new information available, the Hon. Member will be updated in the normal way.

Further to the answer provided on 21 September in response to Question 29230, the business case for land purchase was approved with conditions which the trust is working through ahead of final purchase. These conditions are of a technical nature relating to commercial and legal requirements, and again, when there are further details to provide, the Hon. Member will be updated.

One Best Start Family Hub has been established in the Huntingdon constituency at:

Best Start Family Hub – Huntingdon, Sallowbush Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 7AF.

NHS Central East Integrated Care Board will continue to work with NHS England and the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as the renal dialysis service provider at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, to ensure that there are fit for purpose facilities to meet expected levels of demand. The current service location will remain at Hinchingbrooke Hospital whilst this work is undertaken.

Hartford Infant and Preschool, Hartford Junior School and Upwood Primary Academy are currently on the free breakfast clubs programme in the Huntingdon constituency. The full list of schools on the programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.

The government is committed to delivering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, all state-funded schools with primary-age pupils will be required to offer a club once the statutory duty comes into force.

New groups of schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027/28 to ensure appropriate support is in place. The department recognises the strong interest from schools and families in the free breakfast clubs programme and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Hartford Infant and Preschool, Hartford Junior School and Upwood Primary Academy are currently on the free breakfast clubs programme in the Huntingdon constituency. The full list of schools on the programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.

The government is committed to delivering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, all state-funded schools with primary-age pupils will be required to offer a club once the statutory duty comes into force.

New groups of schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027/28 to ensure appropriate support is in place. The department recognises the strong interest from schools and families in the free breakfast clubs programme and further details will be confirmed in due course.

Due to commercial sensitivities, we are unable to provide a complete list of sites identified through engagement undertaken as part of the Strategic Sites Accelerator's development. Decisions on the future of the programme remain subject to government approvals. We will continue to engage stakeholders and provide further information through the appropriate channels including an open call to sites in the coming months. The team are available to meet with site sponsors and engage on potential opportunities in the interim too.

Programme approvals are currently expected in the next few weeks, subject to any further due diligence required. We continue to work with HM Treasury and delivery partners to secure the necessary approvals and deliver the programme. We are still on track for delivery against schedules set from the announcement of the programme last year.

The Ministry of Defence’s published employment estimates are produced at regional level and are not sufficiently granular to identify jobs within individual constituencies.

The figure of 8,900 quoted in the question represents direct jobs supported by MOD expenditure with UK industry in the East of England; regional estimates of indirect jobs are not available.

In the financial year 2025/26 and following the announcement of the reintroduction of overtime incentives, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) provided 4,331 more tests through overtime at test centres serving Huntingdon when compared to the previous year. DVSA has provided 2,906 tests in total through overtime for the current financial year to July 2026.

From recruitment, a full-time driving examiner (DE) can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

UK Defence Innovation’s (UKDI) Regional Engagement Team has a regionally based Innovation Partner and Regional Defence and Security Cluster providing direct in-region outreach and support in each of the English regions and Devolved Nations. The Huntingdon constituency falls under UKDI’s East of England Innovation Partner and the East Regional Defence & Security Cluster.

Applications for the Youth Investment Fund closed in June 2023, with the majority of facilities completed by March 2026. The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) awarded over £300 million to over 250 projects to build, renovate and expand youth provision across some of the less advantaged areas across England. Over £1.1 million was awarded to a project in Huntingdon. YIF is projected to support an additional 45,000 young people to regularly attend activities in funded facilities.

An independent evaluation of the fund is being conducted. One of the three inter-related strands will include an assessment of the fund’s impact and benefits. The first interim report was published on 28 August 2025 and this can be found on GOV.UK.

On 10 July 2026, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launched the delivery partner competition for the Youth Matters Fund. The Youth Matters Fund will provide over £400 million to enable youth organisations across the country to deliver high-quality youth work and activities, as well as refurbish or build up to 250 youth facilities. Further details will be available in due course.

Flood and coastal risk management projects within the Huntingdon constituency have been allocated £840,000 grant-in-aid (GiA) funding for the current financial year (2026/27) (There may be county-scale projects that are not recorded at constituency level). This is part of the Government’s 3-year investment (April 2026 to March 2029) of £4.2 billion to reduce risk from, and increase resilience to, flooding and coastal erosion.

The indicative GiA allocations for future years are currently being reviewed and prioritised and are subject to Regional Flood and Coastal Committee review and consent.

No Section 57 spray irrigation restrictions have been applied to licences in the Huntingdon constituency in August 2026.

There are 99 abstraction licences within the Huntingdon constituency. Currently (02/09/2026) of these, 75 licences include Hands-Off Flow (HOF) cessation conditions. As of Tuesday, 1 September, only 4 have these restrictions in force.

The government is committed to delivering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act (2026), all schools with primary-age pupils will be required to offer a free breakfast club. New groups of schools will be onboarded in stages throughout 2027 and 2028 to ensure we can continue to provide appropriate support.

There are already three schools delivering a free breakfast club in the Huntingdon constituency, and I look forward to more schools joining the programme as national rollout continues, bringing the benefits of a healthy breakfast, a soft start to the day, and childcare savings to more children and families.