Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the recently announced support hub for small businesses on accessing the defence supply chain will be adequately resourced, appropriately led, and fully integrated into existing defence innovation structures and procurement frameworks.

In March 2025 the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence announced new support to help SMEs access the Defence supply chain and ensure they benefit from the increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. An integral part of this commitment will be the launch of a new SME Support Centre which will help small businesses access the defence supply chain. The detail of how the office will operate is currently being developed by officials with input from across the Ministry of Defence, wider Government and external stakeholders, including companies outside of the existing defence sector. We are working with SMEs to ensure that they have a say in development of the services the support centre will provide.