Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of his Department's procurement contracts have been awarded to UK-based manufacturers in the last 12 months; and what steps he is taking to promote the growth of domestic defence manufacturing.

The Department does not record within our systems directly where a contract is manufactured or the location of the supplier manufacturing. The Department do however collect the prime location of the contract as marked by the contact owner on Contract Purchasing and Finance system (CP&F) when the contract is first created.

Between 16 Dec 2023 to 15 Dec 2024 there have been 2,266 contracts created on the Mkinistry of Defence's CP&F commercial system.

Of these contracts 583 (26%) have been marked with a known location for the contract.

Of these 583 contacts, 531 (91%) have a prime contract location of the UK, while 52 (9%) are marked as a foreign country.

By contract value this works out as £3.85 billion of £20.68 billion (19%) having a known location.

This equates to 78% of the total contract spend with a prime contract location of UK (£2.99 billion UK vs £0.85 billion foreign country).

The UK’s defence manufacturing industry is vital not only to our national security but to our prosperity and economic growth. The Government’s new Defence Industrial Strategy will aim to align the imperatives of national security and a high growth economy.