Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase procurement from UK businesses.

Through the Defence Industrial Strategy, this Government will be prioritising spend with UK businesses.

Over recent months I have chaired 12 roundtables with 112 UK SMEs and mid-tiers, across all nations and regions of the UK, hearing about how the Government can make it simpler for UK businesses to access more Ministry of Defence work. We are committed to reforming the Ministry of Defence procurement system to reduce waste, speed up decision making and opening access to a wider range of British businesses.