Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q111 of the oral evidence given by David Williams to the Public Accounts Committee on 22 January 2024, HC 451, how many Government Major Projects Portfolio review meetings took place in 2023.

A Portfolio Review of all Defence programmes contained within the Government Major Projects Portfolio is held at the end of each financial quarter. As such there were four whole of portfolio reviews in 2023. I chaired the Portfolio Review for the first time in November 2023 (quarter 2 of financial year 2023-24) and I expect to chair the quarter 3 review later this month. Such reviews are in addition to routine individual programme reviews, and assurance reviews undertaken by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and the Department's Defence Major Programmes Portfolio Sponsor Group.