Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent progress he has made in launching the Range of the Future programme.

To improve the long-term productivity and capacity of both MOD and commercially operated UK test ranges, the Defence Industrial Strategy announced the launching of a ‘Range of the Future’ programme at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. This programme will work with SMEs, range operators and regulators to derisk T&E technology and make ranges more available, affordable, and capable of supporting the next generation of Defence capability A project is underway within DSTL to lead the work to scope out the programme, plan how it will be delivered in partnership with UK industry and identify its priorities and operating model. Whilst the formal programme is developed, DSTL are actively engaging with the UK T&E enterprise, including recently supporting a hackathon for the UK T&E Community of Interest.

With reference to page 75 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to establish a scenario planning capability within the National Armaments Director Group.

The National Armaments Director Group is actively progressing plans to establish a dedicated strategic supply chain scenario planning capability as a core component of its Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP). This initiative will underpin a structured programme of scenario testing exercises—integrating wargaming, simulation, and strategic foresight—to stress-test supply chain resilience and inform defence policy and planning. The capability will be delivered in collaboration with industry and government partners, leveraging our new supply chain illumination capability and aligning with the Defence Experimentation and Wargaming Hub. The capability will work with the wider landscape of existing scenario planning and wargaming activities that already take place within the Ministry of Defence and across government. Early development phases include pilot exercises across three service levels, with a proof-of-concept capability targeted by March 2026.

With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, how much funding his Department plans to provide for more mobile test technologies.

As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, investing in mobile test technologies has the potential to accelerate innovation, particularly amongst smaller companies for whom geographically remote and highly capable test ranges may be prohibitively expensive. The same technology will also help Defence undertake more testing in the field, under operationally representative conditions, contributing towards the industrial, innovation and warfighting readiness ambitions in the Strategic Defence Review. Mobile testing is one aspect of the Department’s Test and Evaluation Transformation programme, which is forecast to spend over £1 million on mobile test technologies this year. The scale of future funding is dependent on the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan.

When he plans to publish the Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan.

The Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan will be published later this year alongside the Defence Investment Plan. It will set out our plans to deliver relevant recommendations in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review.

What recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Office for Small Business Growth.

Planning for the new Defence Office for Business Growth is well underway. The operating model has been produced following wide ranging consultation with industry. The Office will provide services to both small businesses and MOD teams, which will focus on growth and shaping the defence industry landscape to develop resilient supply chains. The detail of how the service will operate, including scope and launch date will be released shortly and it is expected that initial operating capability will be achieved in spring 2026.

What information his Department holds on the share of the global defence export market held by UK-based companies.

The UK publishes annual Official Statistics on defence exports. The five-year moving average of UK defence exports orders has shown a trend of modest growth since 2018 and stands at approximately £10 billion. Market intelligence on other countries’ exports is also published. But because Official Statistics and market intelligence use different methodologies, respective results are not comparable. There are publicly available defence export datasets, such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which make their own assessments independent of His Majesty's Government.

What recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Energy and Capability Resilience Centre of Excellence.

The Defence Energy and Capability Resilience Centre of Excellence (DECX) will be established from the start of the next financial year.

With reference to page 76 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme.

The Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP) is a review of Defence supply chain capabilities that will deliver a step-change improvement in how Defence understands, designs and manages the MOD’s industrial ecosystem to deliver benefits throughout the end-to-end supply chain. The DSCCP was established as a programme in September 2024, following a period of discovery and design it is now in year two of delivery. It is delivering a suite of end-to-end supply chain capabilities, covering; risk modelling, supplier management, supply chain architecture, resilience policy, and scenario planning.

What information his Department holds on the level of venture capital investment there is within UK defence companies that sit within the Defence Industrial Strategy.

This Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) (published on 8 September 2025) sets how we will deliver a more competitive, innovative, resilient and integrated defence sector to make defence an engine for growth. To assess progress against the priority outcomes of the strategy we will consider a range of indicators, including levels of venture capital investment in UK defence companies. This is being considered as part of our DIS implementation plan, ensuring that we improve the data we hold on venture capital investment in defence.

How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure with industry groups was spent in each region in the latest period for which data is available.

The Ministry of Defence publishes annual statistics on expenditure by region, with the latest publication for the 2024-25 period available GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-regional-expenditure-with-industry-index.

With reference to page 85 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what steps he is taking to improve the demand signal.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is strengthening how it communicates its demand signal to industry through the establishment of a new Market Engagement (ME) Coordinating Authority within the NAD Group. This new authority will set the standard for how the MOD engages with industry during the early ‘options’ phase of the defence capability development cycle. The ME Authority will lead structured, early engagement with suppliers, to help refine the MOD’s requirements ahead of procurement and support the development of capability roadmaps that clearly communicate the Department’s long-term needs.

How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure was on research and development in the latest period for which data is available.

The Departments expenditure on Research and Development for the latest period is £19,701,778.03 (exVAT).

With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to launch a Regulatory Solutions Hub.

The Regulatory Solutions Hub is expected to be launched in 2026.

With reference to page 76 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to introduce a supplier resilience maturity assessment (a) framework and (b) tool.

The Ministry of Defence plans to introduce a supplier resilience maturity assessment framework and tool as part of the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP). This will be a phased approach involving piloting and testing in a live environment during the remainder of financial year 2025/26, with full implementation commencing in April 2026. The framework—developed as part of a suite of proactive risk management mechanisms - and piloted with industry—enables structured assessment across twelve resilience domains, covering leadership, people, place, and operations, with sixty criteria in total. It is designed for use at both organisational and programme levels and supports MOD-led, supplier-led, or joint assessments. The accompanying tool provides both qualitative and quantitative scoring and visualisation. Final recommendations for implementation are expected following the pilot phase, which is currently underway.

How many (a) FV510, (b) FV511, (c) FV512, (d) FV513, (e) FV514 and (f) FV515 variants of Warrior are in service as of 1 September 2025.

As at 1 September 2025, the figure for each Warrior variant was: VariantTotalFV510261FV51169FV51273FV51333FV51440FV5150Total476 These figures include the active Warrior fleet and those platforms that were yet to start the disposal process.

With reference to page 21 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what steps his Department is taking to help support British tech companies to scale up.

One of the top priority outcomes in the Defence Industrial Strategy, published on 8 September 2025, is to put the UK at the leading edge of defence innovation. To support tech companies to scale up we have launched the new UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), supported by a ringfenced annual budget of at least £400 million. UKDI will support and grow the UK technology sector, including improving companies’ access to innovation funding and advice, and drive pace and agility of defence innovation (Section 5.2). In addition, we are also streamlining the regulatory environment to make it fit for the current era of threat, removing barriers limiting faster delivery, scale up and innovation at wartime pace (Section 5.2.4).

With reference to page 21 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent steps he has taken to increase the competitiveness of the defence sector.

The Defence Industrial Strategy, published on 8 September 2025, sets out our vision to make the UK defence sector more competitive, integrated, innovative and resilient. To do this, we are backing UK based businesses (Section 4), fixing defence procurement (Section 7) and putting the UK at the leading edge of defence innovation (Section 5), to make defence an engine for growth. Recent steps include the launch of UK Defence Innovation, the launch of an offset regime consultation, and progress towards the establishment of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth in Spring 2026. The Defence Investment Plan will include economic growth considerations and offer long-term procurement signals to encourage investment.

With reference to page 23 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what criteria would need to be met to define a bank as part of the defence industrial base.

Work on this matter is ongoing and as a result it would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time.

How many UK defence scale-ups are being tracked by his Department.

UK Defence Innovation track relevant UK defence scale-ups. The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Business Growth and Finance team tracks approximately 300 high-growth SMEs in real time using the Beauhurst platform. Around 70% of these companies are demonstrating scale-up potential, evidenced through annualised growth rates, revenue, equity investment and other signals.The Business Growth and Finance team focuses on supporting SMEs with scale-up potential.

What innovation programmes managed by his Department are in progress.

Defence is focussed on exploiting new and innovative ideas and technologies to secure a competitive edge for our Armed Forces. Within the scope of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), there are currently 49 programmes funded through investment vehicles such as the Defence Innovation Fund (DIF) and the Exploitation Fund (ExF). The number of SMEs and non-traditional suppliers involved in these programmes is not currently defined. Furthermore, the UKDI Defence and security accelerator (UKDI-DASA) has launched 12 themed competitions and ran five cycles of the Open Call for Innovation. UKDI-DASA has funded 123 projects, of which 73% were with SMEs.