Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Chinese Government recruiting ex-British RAF jet pilots for training purposes on national security.

This practice poses a significant threat to UK and Western interests. We are taking a range of measures to dissuade current and former UK pilots from being recruited. We also want to ensure that China understands that our previous silence on this matter should not be interpreted as acceptance or approval of this activity.

We are issuing threat guidance to personnel at risk of being approached. We are reminding personnel of their obligations to protect sensitive information acquired during their tenure as crown or civil servants; we will be looking at options to tighten the contractual obligations of Service leavers. We are also encouraging the reporting of any recruitment activity targeting pilots or any other specialist area of Defence. The alert has been issued to relevant personnel across Defence, including to partners in defence industry. We are also actively sharing information with key allies.