Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce levels of waste in his Department.

We are committed to securing value for money for taxpayers and cutting waste. We have curbed the previous Government's out of control spend on consultants by nearly £300 million by stopping all non-essential Government consultancy spending this year. We have also better aligned spending to Departmental priorities by accelerating the retirement of ageing capabilities.