Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what engineering capabilities the armed forces maintain to rapidly restore damaged critical national infrastructure assets during national emergencies.

It is the responsibility of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Lead Government Departments to set and enforce standards for the protection and resilience of infrastructure within their sector, in partnership with CNI operators in the private and public sectors. If there is a requirement for military support, the Military Aid to Civil Authority process is a mechanism through which Defence can be engaged.

As outlined in the Strategic Defence Review, it is important that CNI is protected from attack above and below the threshold of conflict. Under Home Defence planning, Cabinet Office and CNI Lead Government Departments are seeking to deliver measures to ensure CNI is safeguarded against a range of threats from hybrid to conventional conflict. Defence is supporting these efforts by developing plans to ensure we align Defence resources and capabilities to the protection of the most important infrastructure in a conflict scenario.