Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of Price Waterhouse Cooper's assessment that project Tempest will add £1 billion to the economy of the East of England; and what estimate he has made of the contribution to the Scottish economy of that project.

The Tempest programme is expected to generate long-term high value employment which can make a significant contribution to the UK Government's levelling up priorities and the wider economy.

An independent report commissioned by industry and produced by professional services firm, PWC, provides an assessment of gross value added and employment contribution of the Tempest region, based on direct and first-tier supplier spending only through 2021 - 2050. It does not make an assessment of the additional GVA and employment contribution below the direct first-tier level.

In Scotland the PwC report outlines a contribution of at least £828 million gross value added with at least 15,000 job years. This will create high value jobs and skills for decades.

The Combat Air sector generates £6 billion a year and employs thousands of workers across the UK. Tempest will exploit our industrial base to create a next generation combat air enterprise centred in the UK. The early preparatory work of the FCAS Technology Initiative and Team Tempest expected to secure employment for 1,800 people directly supporting the programme. Industry now estimate that figure has been exceeded, with over 2,000 people now engaged in Tempest enterprise activities alone across 300 different companies. More than 90% of these people are highly skilled scientists and engineers.