Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase staff levels at the Submarine Delivery Agency.

Throughout 2018-19 we have made steady recruitment progress to bolster our people capabilities in the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) resulting in a net increase to our core workforce by around 11% by April 2019. We will continue to identify skills gaps and prioritise effectively by both sourcing existing skilled staff from within the Ministry of Defence and by using the SDA's authority and freedoms to recruit and retain the best people to enhance the organisation's competencies and capability.