Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has a policy on defence diversification to protect jobs in the defence sector.

The people working in the defence sector make an enormous contribution to the capability of our Armed Forces. The industry supports hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs throughout the UK. Our refreshed Defence Industrial Policy, published in December 2017, sets out our commitment to encouraging a thriving and globally competitive UK defence sector as an integral part of the Government's overall Industrial Strategy. This includes encouraging the wider application of our investment in research, and Ploughshare Innovations Ltd was established specifically to support transfer of defence science and technology into the civilian market. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence recently invited Philip Dunne MP to carry out an external review of opportunities to grow the contribution that defence makes to UK prosperity. This was published in July and we are currently considering its recommendations.