Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness of the arrangements and (b) capacity to provide international training by the UK armed forces to support exporters of defence equipment.

The International Defence Engagement Strategy underpins the role that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) plays in supporting defence export campaigns. In line with this strategy the Department seeks to support all requests of assistance from the UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), who are the Government lead for support to responsible defence exports. This can include the provision of training by UK Armed Forces as part of a proposed export sale. All such requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they would not impact on available capacity, operational commitments or the availability of training places for UK personnel. Given that this is by definition a finite resource, with UKTI DSO, the MOD considers how this is best deployed across the span of ongoing export campaigns.