Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to encourage innovation by defence suppliers.

With an equipment plan worth £180 billion over 10 years, a rising Defence budget and a Defence Innovation Fund of approximately £800 million, there are great opportunities for innovative suppliers. We have extended the Defence Growth Partnership Innovation Challenge, to address areas such as persistent surveillance, autonomy and big data. With the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Invest Northern Ireland we will also pilot a new Defence Technology Exploitation Programme to help Northern Ireland's vibrant defence Small and Medium - Sized Enterprises to access research and development investment of approximately £1.2 million and develop stronger links and new routes to market through primes and upper tier companies across the UK. Alongside this initiative, the Ministry of Defence's Defence and Security Accelerator is creating a post covering Scotland and Northern Ireland to help companies access its innovation programmes.