Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 19 October to Question 66920 on China: Armed Forces, what guidance his Department provides to (a) serving and (b) retired pilots on advisory roles with the armed forces of China.

The Ministry of Defence disapproves of this activity and strongly dissuades current and former serving personnel from engaging with it. Where we have identified personnel who may be tempted by the offer, we have undertaken a range of measures to remind them of their obligations under the official secrets act.

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.