Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 35 of his Department's Annual Reports and Accounts 2021-2022, what proportion of the money that the Defence and Security Accelerator allocated to SMEs was allocated in (a) grants and (b) loans since April 2021.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) does not award grants but research contracts. The contract funding is allocated through two main mechanisms, the Open Call for Innovation and Themed Competitions.

Between 1 April 2021 and 18 November 2022, DASA awarded 64% of available funding to SMEs. The breakdown is as follows:

Open call - DASA has awarded 72% of the contracts (number of contracts) to SMEs with 76% of the funding (£) going to SMEs.

Themed - DASA has awarded 50% of the contracts (number of contracts) to SMEs with 45% of the funding (£) going to SMEs.

DASA and Innovate UK also allocate funding through Defence Innovation Loans, a mechanism designed exclusively for SMEs, with 100% of Loan funding allocated to SMEs.