Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on improving signalling of defence requirements to industry.

The Ministry of Defence is improving how Defence signals future requirements to industry through the Strategic Defence Review, Defence Reform and the Defence Industrial Strategy.

We are providing earlier and clearer demand signals through strengthened market engagement, including working with industry at an earlier stage to discuss capability challenges and desired outcomes before requirements are set.

Through the Defence Industrial Joint Council, Task Force SABRE and new capability development processes, we are testing and embedding new approaches to engagement. The Defence Investment Plan also provides greater transparency on future investment priorities, giving industry more confidence to invest, innovate and build capacity in support of Defence needs.