Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release of 26 December 2025 on defence exports, what proportion of UK defence export contracts in 2025 included participation by small and medium‑sized enterprises; and what steps the Department is taking to increase SME involvement in future export programmes.

The contracts the press release includes are significant in scope and led by large Prime contractors. While these contracts will involve SME subcontractors, the Department does not hold data on the proportion of SME value, as that is a matter for the Prime.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) supports SMEs to export through our Export Faculty, which supports SMEs to access these opportunities. The Faculty membership grew from around 1,900 to over 2,500 SMEs in 2025.

The new Defence Office for Small Business Growth will further boost support for SMEs, signposting sources of expert advice including the Export Faculty and delivering on our target to increase MOD’s spend with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.