Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser from 1 June to 31 August 2019.

Between 1 June 2019 and 31 August 2019 - there have been no meetings between the Secretary of State for Defence and the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA).

The CSA oversees a network of Scientific Advisers deployed in Front Line Commands and across Defence, providing scientific advice at all levels. Additionally, CSA is a member of the top-level governance groups in the Ministry of Defence such as the Investment Approvals Board and Executive Committee. As such, there are many opportunities to ensure advice to Ministers has benefited from scientific advice in addition to 1:1 meetings between the CSA and Ministers.