Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the minimum number of available warships is that the Royal Navy requires to meet basic operational requirements.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule and readiness profiles.
The Royal Navy continues to meet its operational objectives and to work closely with the Government to ensure our maritime environment remains safe amid a changing threat environment.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Navy surface warships are (a) available for deployment and (b) deployed.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule and readiness profiles.
The Royal Navy continues to meet its operational objectives and to work closely with the Government to ensure our maritime environment remains safe amid a changing threat environment.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of the development of a Regional Defence and Security Cluster in Scotland; and what progress has been made following early-stage discussions with potential partners in Scotland.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Strategic Defence Review 2025 emphasised a cross-government initiative to develop regional clusters across the devolved nations. Regional Defence and Security Clusters, supported by the Ministry of Defence, are already bringing benefit across England, and lessons learned from the development of these clusters could also be applied to the development of defence and security clusters in Scotland.
Initial and outline discussions have taken place with several stakeholders within Scotland in relation to a Defence and Security Cluster. These are progressing but remain early-stage at this moment in time. Expectations are that these will continue over the coming months. Until such times, there are currently a number of clusters and cluster-like organisations in Scotland that overlap defence such as the Scottish Government’s Innovation Centres, Space Scotland, West of Scotland Space Cluster, and Scottish Maritime Cluster.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on the Scottish allocation of the New Defence Growth Deals announced in September 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Industrial Strategy committed £250 million to fund all five Defence Growth Deals across the UK. Work is ongoing to understand how the £250 million Defence Growth Deal fund will be allocated across the five locations.
We continue to work with key stakeholders, including government, industry and academia, to identify opportunities for Scotland Defence Growth Deal investment.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on establishing a Defence Technical Excellence College in Scotland.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, £20 million was allocated to skills initiatives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Through the Scottish Defence Growth Deal framework, we are currently engaging with a wide range of stakeholders including government, industry and academia to understand the key skills gaps for Scotland’s defence sector and how this funding should best be used to address them. This includes exploring the concept of a Scottish Defence Technical Excellence College.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many projects have been (a) funded by the UKDI Defence and security accelerator and (b) of these how many were based in Scotland.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As of the end of January 2026, a total of 1,715 Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) projects had been funded, with 146 of these awarded to businesses or projects in Scotland, amounting to a total value of £30.6 million.
Please note that, as of 2 February 2026, the DASA brand has been retired. All responsibilities and activities previously undertaken by DASA now fall under the remit of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI).
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on (a) allocating funding and (b) identifying opportunities for investment by the Defence Growth Deal in Scotland.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence has been working with the UK Government, the Scottish Government, industry, academia and other key stakeholders to identify opportunities to invest in interventions that support defence priority sub-sectors that align with Scotland’s sub-sector strengths. Work is ongoing to understand how the £250 million Defence Growth Deal fund will be allocated across the five locations, including Scotland.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 87832 on RAF Brize Norton: Palestine Action, what was the cost of returning the two damaged aero engines to a serviceable condition.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the engines damaged on 20 June 2025 have since been inspected and returned into service, their reduced cleared life will necessitate a significant overhaul within the next two years.
The full financial impact of the incident will not be known until that overhaul is complete and it is known which parts will need to be replaced.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2025 to Question 84339 on RAF Brize Norton: Palestine Action, what delivery forecast is for the return of each engine to serviceability.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The two engines have now arrived at RAF Brize Norton and have been returned into service.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October to Question 80377 on Armed Forces: Health, and the Answer of 17 November to Question 89590 on Armed Forces: Health Services, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of collecting these metrics for Wales.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence uses a Hospital Referral System (HRS) to make and track referrals to the NHS and private healthcare providers. The HRS was introduced in 2024 to centralise and manage all referrals generated by Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) Medical and Dental Centres.
Currently not all DPHC Medical Centres in Wales use the HRS in order to make a referral. The Department is working to incorporate this data into the system to ensure there is accurate and consistent reporting across all four nations.