Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.

Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence, and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on national defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing the Government, the private sector, and the public to play their part in strengthening the United Kingdom’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

The Department of Health and Social Care is actively supporting this work. The Emergency Preparedness and Health Protection Directorate works across the Department, the health system, and wider partners to strengthen our response on health security, which includes defence and officials having regular meetings with their defence counterparts.