Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 50 of his department's Strategic Defence Review, published 2 June 2025, what progress has been made by his Department to a) protect digital spend as a no-fail priority and b) embed a culture of constant innovation with a target of minimum annual shift of 10% expenditure from current to next-generation capabilities on its enterprise digital platforms and services.

The Defence Investment Plan sets out how the Department is investing to deliver the vision of the Strategic Defence Review, including significant investment in the Digital Backbone, the Digital Targeting Web, artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities and other next-generation technologies.

Work is underway to implement the Review's digital recommendations, including improving oversight of digital expenditure, developing the pan-Defence digital operating model and supporting the continuous improvement of Defence digital services. This will enable the Department to prioritise critical digital investment and progressively replace legacy systems with modern, cross-Defence platforms.

The Department is also developing the arrangements required to measure and assure progress against the target to shift a minimum of 10% of relevant expenditure annually from current to next-generation enterprise digital capabilities.

Progress against the Defence Investment Plan will be reported to Parliament through the Department's annual delivery update.