Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff have been appointed to prepare his Department for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much has been spent on such preparations to date.

The Ministry of Defence currently has a small central team of 12 civil servants who deal exclusively with Defence issues relating to the UK's decision to leave the EU.

This central team draws on subject matter experts across the Department.

The Ministry of Defence continually reviews workforce plans and reprioritises as necessary.

To date, a total of 28 military planners have been posted to other Whitehall Departments to assist with contingency planning for leaving the EU. Military planners offer unique skills and operational planning experience and will be involved in a variety of tasks tailored to the needs of the requesting Department. Staff across the Department are integrating ongoing contingency planning into their day-to-day work in recognition of the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

At the Autumn Budget 2017, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £3 billion over the next two financial years to helping Departments and the Devolved Administrations to prepare.

HM Treasury allocated £12m of EU Exit funding to the Ministry of Defence for 2018/19. This will fund the administrative, legal and infrastructure requirements for Defence of leaving the EU, including for our bases and people in Europe. It also includes funds to preserve three Offshore Patrol Vessels for the security and enforcement of UK waters and fisheries. The breakdown of this funding will be confirmed within the Supplementary Estimates 2019/20 in early 2020.