Written questions by Burghart.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Historic £1.6bn deal provides thousands of air defence missiles for Ukraine and boosts UK jobs and growth), published on 2 March 2025, whether (a) an open prior information notice or (b) a voluntary ex-ante transparency notice was published in relation to the procurement.

Neither a Prior Information Notice nor voluntary ex-ante transparency notice were published, noting that this procurement is excluded from applicable procurement legislation as it is pursuant to an international agreement between the UK and Ukraine.

What weightings were applied to (a) technical capability, (b) cost, (c) delivery timelines and (d) risk assessment in the award of the contract to Thales Northern Ireland for lightweight-multirole missiles.

This procurement was not subject to competition, in accordance with applicable procurement legislation, and therefore tender assessment weightings were not applicable.