Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

United Kingdom Security Vetting

Thursday 23 October 2025 · 1 question

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Michelle Scrogham questioned the Minister about delays in security clearance for workers in Barrow building nuclear submarines.
  • The Minister acknowledged Barrow's critical role in national security through its contributions to nuclear submarine construction.
  • The Minister assured that UKSV is working to improve the efficiency of the vetting process and is digitising and automating systems to address delays.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Michelle Scrogham Lab Barrow and Furness
Context

Concerns raised by constituents in Barrow who lost job offers due to significant delays in receiving security clearances from UKSV, impacting the ability to deliver nuclear submarines.

Question

The Minister will know how proud we in Barrow are to be building our world-class nuclear submarines. Working in the shipyard requires security clearance, which is provided by UKSV. However, some of my constituents have lost job offers due to the significant delays in receiving clearance. That has a severe impact on those individuals as well as on our ability to deliver the submarines that defend the country. Can the Minister assure me that steps are being taken to speed up the process?

Answer from Dan Jarvis (Minister of State, Cabinet Office)

My hon. Friend will know better than anyone that Barrow makes a critical contribution to national security. I can assure her that UKSV continues to undertake a programme of work to improve the efficiency of the vetting process and that further work is ongoing to digitise and improve the automation of processes. If she has any further concerns, I would be happy to discuss them with her.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not provide specific timelines or concrete actions to address the delays mentioned by the questioner.

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