Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of threat posed by Russian and Chinese installations on Antarctica to (a) Britain's South Atlantic Islands and (b) British research presence in Antarctica.

The Ministry of Defence continually monitors the global security environment and keeps potential threats to UK interests, personnel and facilities under constant review. This includes the Antarctic region where we know that both Russia and China have their own scientific research stations.