Defence Spending and Resilience

Monday 2nd November 2026 Lords Chamber

Question

15:01

Asked by

[Lord John of Southwark]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in their national conversation on defence spending and resilience; and what are the outcomes of that conversation to date.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Coaker) (Lab)]

My Lords, the national conversation on defence and resilience is now under way across government, helping build public understanding of the threats we face and a whole-of-society approach to resilience. Outcomes include a national resilience public awareness campaign, deeper engagement with industry and local partners and stronger preparedness across government, business and communities, alongside refreshed national defence planning.

[Lord John of Southwark (Lab)]

My Lords, it is clear from reports of increased sales of tinned food, bottled water, radios and torches that the Government’s message about national preparedness is getting through. However, are the Government confident that the public understand the level and seriousness of threats to our national security which prompted the Defence Secretary’s warnings on 22 October?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for his important question. The remarks made by the Defence Secretary and others have started the conversation, which is leading to that increased awareness. Does that mean that everyone is aware of the threats that we face? I think there is still a job of work to do with respect to that.

In particular, I do not think we are going to see Russian paratroopers in Southwark, but, in respect of the threat to Southwark and across the United Kingdom in terms of cyber attack, disruption to trade, misinformation, threats that we all need to understand and be prepared for, there is a lot of work to be done.

[Lord Stirrup (CB)]

My Lords, the national conversation on defence, such an important issue, cannot be just a series of rambling and random chats or sporadically issued propositions. It requires a coherent plan, driven from the top, properly resourced and appropriately targeted to the relevant audiences, the most important of which are Generation Z, who have the most difficulty understanding the need. Where is the plan?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

My right honourable friend in the other place, the Security Minister, with the support of the Defence Secretary, has announced the Be Ready campaign, which is a national resilience public awareness campaign. It has been built up with the devolved Administrations and local resilience forums. More than 500 organisations have signed up to help with the distribution of the advice that will be given to people. The national conversation will be a part of that.

The noble and gallant Lord will be pleased to know that social media will play a crucial part, to make sure that we do not just use the media that many of us listen to but the media that Generation Z and others listen to. That will be an important part of the plan.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, the newspapers are carrying reports of how other nations, and maybe this one as well, are expanding their defence spending without resort to government accounts, by using an expansion of the old PFI model, which obviously would be a great relief for the bond markets and relief from further upward pressure on interest rates, which is otherwise inevitable. Can the Minister tell us how we are getting on in that respect in this country, because we certainly need that kind of remedy?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

The noble Lord, with many of his friends on both sides of the Houses, has made important statements about the need to look for other ways of financing defence spending, whether that be through a defence bank, whether that be through national finance initiatives, or whether it be through all sorts of different mechanisms such as those. He will have heard the Chancellor last week say in the Budget Statement, laid out in the Budget book, that he intends to launch a consultation and review on how more of that sort of finance could be attracted, to support the defence spending that this country needs. He is hoping that will report as soon as possible.

[Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)]

My Lords, when Paddy Ashdown published his Humanitarian Emergency Response Review, he concluded that the people who were best able to cope with disasters were those who had been through them before and learned from them. In my own area of north-east Scotland, we have got used to sustained power cuts, and one of the worst storms we had did not just cut off power but all communications—digital, telephones, data and everything else—for days. What are the Government doing to co-ordinate the knowledge that we gain, at home and abroad, and ensure that all the relevant bodies in the private and public sector have access to all that and can give their training on the basis of experience?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

It is a very important question, and I hope the noble Lord heard some of the answer that I gave to the noble and gallant Lord, which was about working with the devolved Administrations. With Scotland, there has been a lot of consultation with the Scottish Government, but also with local organisations. The British Red Cross, for example, has been involved. Many of the authorities that are responsible for water and those that are responsible for some of the emergency services have been utilised. Alongside that, the noble Lord is right to point out the need to use volunteers and to use those who have the knowledge and experience that he speaks about. As part of that, we are engaging with local communities to build on that, so that they can be part of the conversation as well.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I refer to my interest as chair of the National Preparedness Commission. Until the last couple of weeks, the national conversation has been conducted in whispers, so I am pleased that the volume has been turned up slightly. However, does my noble friend accept that any campaign of this sort has to be sustained and repeated, must be specific to the threats being faced at the time, and also needs to prompt a dialogue in local communities, on local streets and in local faith communities and so on as to how this should be done? Can he also tell us what thought has been given to how schools can be engaged in this, because engaging children means that the next generation will be more resilient and that pester power will take it back to their homes.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I agree with all that. The campaign certainly needs to be sustained and it needs to take place over a significant period of time. We need to involve all the community, and schools in particular. Discussions are under way with local forums, with local education bodies, with schools themselves and with teacher representatives, to try to understand what the best way is of doing that. The Government have been doing many of the things my noble friend has asked for for a considerable period of time. One of the things I am determined to do, as he will know from our conversations, is to try to speed it up a little bit. We will all have our individual examples. Many people here will perhaps know that I like to have my hair cut now and again. When I was having my hair cut, the local barbers engaged in a conversation with me about what they should do in terms of crisis, because they had heard about it on the radio. I thought that was a pretty good start, actually.

[Baroness Goldie (Con)]

My Lords, cadets and our reservists have a crucial role to play in this national conversation on defence and resilience, because they are, after all, the Armed Forces’ local presence throughout the entirety of the United Kingdom. In the light of that, and so that the reserve forces and cadets associations can continue their incredible work without distraction, will the Minister confirm that the Government will drop their policy of reorganisation of the RFCAs?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

No, I cannot confirm that. But I can confirm, as the noble Baroness knows and understands, that between Committee and Report I spent a significant amount of time talking to various bodies and Peers about the reorganisation that the Government are proposing and, alongside that, the protection of many of the things that the House raised, such as: regional representation on the national body; the role of lords-lieutenant and others being in the Bill; voting rights for the regional representatives on the new national body; making sure there are significant numbers of them on the national panel; and ensuring that three or so members from England will be on that body, and also from each of the devolved Administrations. I was asked time and again, “Could there be a representative from Scotland? Could there be a representative from Northern Ireland? Could there be a representative from Wales?” To each of those I voted yes. Although I cannot answer in the affirmative to the noble Baroness’s question, she will understand that I spent hours trying to get into in the Bill many of the things that she and others demanded to protect many things that noble Lords regard as important under the current structure.

[Baroness Teather (LD)]

My Lords, what practical steps do the Government intend to take to invest in supporting stronger local community bonds? Individualism and individual prepping will not really support local resilience. As we learned from Covid, those stronger community bonds will enable the most vulnerable people to be reached.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I have been talking to the local resilience forums in England and to the devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about the importance of involving local organisations. I also think—it is probably right to mention this now—that the involvement of the cadets, reserves and many other emergency and voluntary organisations in Remembrance Sunday is not only a perfect example of honouring those who have served and fallen in the past and who serve today but reminds us of the important bond that exists between the Armed Forces and the emergency services and local communities. It is crucial to our nation to ensure that that bond operates not just on Remembrance Sunday but throughout the year.