Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December to Question 3729 on Ministry of Defence: Women, what targeted development opportunities his Department provides for female staff below SCS.

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) has developed and is running a programme titled ‘Becoming’, which is specifically aimed at women in DE&S below the Senior Civil Servant grade. To date 88 women have completed this programme, with a further 60 women currently participating in the programme. The intention is to run this programme through to 2026, which will result in over 500 women attending in total. In addition to this programme, DE&S also sponsors female colleagues on the Women in Defence mentoring programme, with funded placements for ten mentors and ten mentees.