Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff at what grades are reviewing engagement with the EU through PESCO.

As part of the Cabinet Office-led UK-EU reset, teams in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are working closely with teams across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to work collaboratively to build our defence relationship with the EU including consultations on respective defence initiatives and defence industry matters, including advancing work towards a Security and Defence Partnership.

There are currently no staff solely dedicated to reviewing engagement with the EU through PESCO. However, teams in MOD are working to assess PESCO as part of their broader remits to consider international cooperation and UK interests, including through work to develop a UK-EU Security Partnership.