My Lords, the Royal Navy has a fleet of nine submarines currently in service. It operates four Vanguard class nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines in Operation Relentless, the continuous at-sea deterrent, which has been successfully maintained for over 56 years. The Vanguard class will be sequentially replaced by four Dreadnought class submarines, which will enter service in the 2030s. Additionally, five Astute class nuclear-powered and conventionally armed submarines are in service, with two more under construction.

Authorised contractors, have a legal right to access the highway for essential works, which can require temporary obstruction. To minimise disruption and protect road users, they must comply with the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice.

To help tackle congestion, the Government has recently approved new lane rental schemes and continues to support their rollout by highway authorities. These schemes which apply charges for works on the busiest roads and incentivise quicker, better-planned delivery have shown success in reducing delays and improving network efficiency. This is why we are devolving powers to mayors, enabling local leaders to introduce lane rental schemes tailored to their areas

Alongside this, the Department for Transport will publish an updated version of the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice next year, bringing guidance in line with modern standards and ensuring best practice across the sector. Together, these measures aim to keep traffic moving and improve the experience for all road users.

Deterrence remains at the core of the UK’s defence policy and influences everything we do; from capability procurement choices to operational activity. The Strategic Defence Review (2025) affirms the centrality of deterrence to Defence thinking. It underpins our focus on home defence and resilience, our move towards warfighting readiness, and our NATO First approach.

There are eight Type 26 frigates on order for the UK. The recent announcement that Norway has selected the UK as their preferred strategic partner for Frigate procurement signals Norway’s intention to order five Type 26 ships.

The Government is clear - it is only the people of the Falkland Islands who can decide their own future. The UK is steadfast in its support for the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination, a right which is enshrined in the UN Charter and in article one of the two UN Covenants on human rights. The Falkland Islanders made their wishes clear in the 2013 referendum when 99.8 percent of voters chose to maintain their status as a self-governing UK Overseas Territory.

My Lords, I declare my interest as a serving Army reservist. The £7.1 billion that we have committed since February 2022 covers a broad range of military support to Ukraine. This includes rapid procurement and gifting of equipment, development of international capability coalitions and training support through Operation Interflex. We have not provided a breakdown of this military support to Ukraine to ensure that we do not jeopardise a live operation by putting into the public domain information that could be used to assist our adversaries.

The number of Peers attending the Chamber for the State Opening of Parliament is not recorded; but all of the approximately 180 available spaces for Members of the House were occupied for the State Opening this year. This figure does not include 14 Lords spiritual or eight members of the House who were either part of the procession or hold certain offices and were present in the Chamber due to the offices they hold. We do not have records to say how this compares to previous State Openings.

The Government regrets the recent air traffic control issues and the impact these have had on airlines and their customers. NATS has an outstanding aviation safety record and is regulated against service targets which are set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It is important that we await the findings of the independent review which the CAA has announced into the technical failure which impacted NATS systems on 28 August 2023 and that any recommendations from this are responded to accordingly.

My officials have and will continue to engage with the relevant stakeholders to ensure robust plans are in place to mitigate any disruption to air traffic control services, recognising that the safety of the operation must always be the paramount consideration for air navigation service providers.

The Tornado aircraft went out of RAF service in 2019 and has been through a thorough disposal process. The RAF have retained 16 Tornado aircraft across different variants for use as ground based training aids and gate guardians but none are airworthy and the majority of their systems have been permanently removed or inhibited to ensure long-term safety for ground instruction training or public display.

Following last year’s pay award, average basic pay per person for professionally qualified ambulance staff has increased to around £34,300 from around £33,000. On average, ambulance staff have additional earnings worth around 37% of basic pay, covering unsocial hours, geographical supplements and overtime. Following the 2022/23 pay award this will take total earnings to around £47,000 per year.

I refer my noble Friend to the answer I gave on 15 November 2022 to Question HL3303 to the noble Lord, Lord West of Spithead.

The criteria for those who wish to stand for, and hold the office of Police and Crime Commissioner, is set out in legislation under Section 64 to 69 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

Those who wish to stand as a candidate must be at least 18 years of age on the day of their nomination and registered to vote in the force area in which they wish to stand. They must also be a British citizen, an eligible Commonwealth citizen or a qualifying EU citizen or EU citizen with retained rights. To be nominated as a candidate, candidates must obtain 100 nominations and tender a deposit of £5,000.

Individuals are not required to have any formal legal qualifications or other qualifications.

Six Destroyers and twelve Frigates are in-service with the Royal Navy. They rotate through operational deployments, exercises and periods of planned maintenance.

At present, of the six Destroyers, four are available for operations with the remainder in long term refit. Of the twelve Frigates, eight are available for operations with the remainder in long term refit.

As of 31 March 2022 (latest available published statistics), there were 1,618 male sentenced prisoners and 21 female sentenced prisoners aged ‘70 and over’ in prisons in England & Wales.

The Government’s Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) process oversees the accuracy and reliability of vehicle speed measurement devices to ensure they meet the specified requirements.

Manufacturers work with Road Safety Support to test the accuracy of speed cameras and provide test reports as part of the HOTA submission process. These reports are reviewed by scientific colleagues at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) who will then make a recommendation on a device’s suitability for Type Approval.

My Lords, the future of the Falkland Islands is one that only the people of the Falkland Islands should decide. The United Kingdom’s relationship with the Falkland Islands and the rest of the UK overseas territories is a modern one, based on partnership, shared values and the right of the people to determine their own future. As evidenced by the overwhelming result of the 2013 referendum, the people of the Falkland Islands wish to retain their status as a self-governing UK overseas territory. The UK will always support the Falkland Islanders.

Hammersmith Bridge is owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) and therefore responsibility for making decisions on its repair lies with the borough.

My Department and Transport for London (TfL) are working constructively with LBHF as it makes progress with its business cases for the project. The submission of these cases is a condition for the release of any Government or TfL contribution to the cost of repairing the bridge.

The works are split into two phases: stabilisation and strengthening. The completion of both phases will allow the permanent reopening of the bridge to all users.

LBHF is due to start the stabilisation phase of works in February. The timeline of the project to reopen the bridge fully is dependent on the engineering solutions chosen by LBHF.

Since April 1969, there has always been at least one Royal Navy nuclear-armed submarine at sea keeping us safe from the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life. We will maintain four deterrent submarines to ensure at least one will always be on a Continuous At Sea Deterrence patrol.

Utility street works and highway authority road works, are carried out within the framework of legislation set by New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the Traffic Management Act 2004. The overall framework balances the need to ensure the essential repair and maintenance of roads, whilst reducing the disruption that such works can cause.

We have, in recent years, continued to improve the framework of secondary legislation and we have approved lane rental schemes, which allow local authorities to charge for works on the busiest roads at the busiest times to reduce congestion. We have also introduced the Street Manager digital service, which is now used by all local highway authorities and utility companies in England to plan and manage works, providing real time, open data on live and planned works.

Hammersmith Bridge is owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF) and therefore responsibility for maintaining the bridge, and making decisions on its repair, lies with the borough.

The Government has set out a clear commitment to support LBHF in finding a long-term solution for the bridge. As agreed in the Transport for London Extraordinary Funding and Finance agreement of 1 June 2021, the Government will contribute up to 1/3 of the total costs, but no more.

The next step to permanent reopening to motor vehicles lies with LBHF, which must submit a satisfactory business case to the Department for Transport. The submission of such a case is a condition for the release of any Government contribution to the cost of repairing the bridge. As the asset owner, it is up to LBHF to take the decision on its preferred engineering solution. The timeline of the project is dependent on the solutions chosen by LBHF.