Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of direct action taken by Palestine Action on the (a) defence sector and (b) adequacy of the supply of assets to the Armed Forces.

The Ministry of Defence regularly monitors risks and issues facing the defence sector as part of our supply chain resilience work.

A number of UK Defence companies have reported that they have incurred costs through installing additional security measures in responding to the threat of actions from groups such as Palestine Action. It is also recognised that there are a small number of defence companies, and associated supporting businesses, who have been targeted by Palestine Action with criminal damage and intimidation of their staff. At an individual level these businesses have incurred costs and disruption through the damage caused and we are working with the Police to deal with such offences and mitigate potential future such action.

However, the overall impact to Defence has been limited and there have been no significant reported impacts to the Defence supply chain.