Ministry of Defence

The Secretary of State for Defence has not recently directly discussed the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) with any of his counterparts from other CWGC member nations.

The Secretary of State, as the de-facto Chair of the Commission, is usually represented by the Defence Services Secretary at the quarterly CWGC Commissioners meetings. These are attended by the High Commissioners of each of the CWGC’s member nations, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. Their presence ensures a consistent link between the Commission and the Governments of its member nations. The next meeting is scheduled to held on 3 December 2025 where key aspects of the Commission’s ongoing and future work will be discussed.

Holdover wait times for trainees vary across the single Services and it is not a universal picture; however multiple steps are being taken to reduce wait times across all three Services. Force growth and training have been prioritised, with training pipelines experiencing increased productivity with additional military, civil service and contractor workforce provisioned to deliver optimal sequencing.

The efficiency of the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) continues to improve, with a consistently reducing number of trainees in holdovers, and the duration of holdovers also reducing significantly.

Holdovers in UKMFTS Aircrew training pipelines are monitored through established tri-Service governance structures, particularly the Aircrew Pipeline Management Group (APMG) and Aircrew Pipeline Steering Group (APSG), both chaired by RAF 22 Group. These forums enable early visibility of emerging constraints and have directly contributed to reductions in both the number and duration of holdovers across UKMFTS.

The Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force operate individual recruitment schemes and data on candidates who have been unable to join the Armed Forces for dental reasons is recorded separately for each Service. Data is provided for the period as held in accordance with medical record retention policies.

For the Royal Navy, 17 candidates have been placed ‘Medically On-Hold’ since June 2025. Following dental treatment, six of the 17 candidates have since been assessed as medically fit to join the Royal Navy.

Historic data on candidates to the Royal Navy who have been placed ‘Medically On-Hold’ for dental reasons is not held in the format requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

For the British Army, the following table provides the number of candidates who were rejected at medical review for dental reasons:

For the Royal Air Force, the following table provides the number of candidates who were coded for dental failures:

The Royal Navy (RN) is actively working to encourage more women to pursue careers as Commandos. Female Royal Marine/Commando candidates benefit from tailored support, including mentorship from women who have been through the Commando process. Those in the recruitment pipeline are also invited to attend female-specific briefings and webinars.

In addition, the RN offers Commando Force opportunities to women in non-Commando roles, helping to prepare them for future Commando training should they choose to pursue it. As a further demonstration of our commitment to supporting female Commandos, Victoria Pendleton has been appointed as an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Marines.

Defence is committed to a diverse workforce, seeking to ‘select in’ rather than ‘select out’ and is focused on work to review the current policies for Armed Forces recruiting.

An update to Joint Service Publication (JSP) 950 Leaflet 6-7-7, which sets out the medical entry standards for the Armed Forces, was published in August 2024 following an intensive period of review undertaken by clinical experts, Defence personnel staff, and the recruiting agencies.

The updated JSP 950 Leaflet 6-7-7 is now in use and in the case of asthma confirms candidates may now be able to join the Armed Forces providing they meet certain criteria. Defence Medical Services continue to monitor and consider all emerging medical evidence to inform medical entry standards.

There is an executive waiver process where the employing Service may, exceptionally, recruit someone who is below the normal medical entry standards. This may include individuals with unique specialist skills that outweigh any functional limitations they might have.

This Government has the utmost admiration and appreciation for the loyal service of all our Armed Forces Veterans, however, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no current plan to recommend that the eligibility criteria for the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal are amended to include Regular Officers who served in the Armed Forces before 29 July 2014. In any case, the MOD cannot unilaterally amend the eligibility criteria for the medal, and any recommendation in this respect would be subject to endorsement by the Committee on the Grant of Decorations, Honours and Medals, and approval by His Majesty The King.

I refer the hon. Member to The Mull of Kintyre Review undertaken by the Rt Hon Lord Philip published on 13 July 2011. This review states that “This was an annual tasking to transport Northern Ireland based senior intelligence and security officers to a security conference outside the Province (p12)”.

The following table provides the numbers of UK Armed Forces personnel categorised as NATO Category 2, 3 and 4, as at 1 April each year from 1 April 2015 to April 2025:

Personnel categorised as NATO Category 2 and 3 are those who require either preventative or interventive treatment to achieve optimal dental fitness.

Personnel categorised as NATO Category 4 are those who require a periodic dental examination, have an undetermined dental status, or have missing or incomplete dental records.

Wargaming, such as the December 2024 Industry Wargame, helps the Ministry of Defence, industry, and wider society identify and address risks, enhancing operational resilience and ensuring mission continuity in contested environments. The exercise yielded critical insights across multiple areas essential for surging capacity and scaling to full warfighting readiness. Achieving this requires strengthening strategic collaboration with industry and international partners, alongside further developing enablers such as appropriate legislation, financial frameworks, specialist skills development, and digital transformation.

Considerable progress is already underway, including work on a Defence Readiness Bill, the formation of a dedicated scenario planning and modelling capability, accelerated digital system upgrades for secure information sharing, and cross-Government efforts to access vital defence skills.

No. A small number of UK planning officers have embedded in the US-led Civil Military Coordination Centre (CMCC), including a 2* deputy commander, to ensure that the UK remains integrated into the US-led planning efforts for Gaza post-conflict stability. This team is not monitoring the ceasefire in Gaza. The UK continues to work with international partners to support the Gaza ceasefire to see where the UK can best contribute to the peace process.

This Government is fully committed to ensuring that all veterans, including those living in Runcorn and Helsby, have easy access to support in these essential areas, when and where it is needed.

For housing support in England, Op FORTITUDE is the support referral pathway to connect veterans at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. The Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme funds housing organisations to deliver wraparound care and support services to veterans across the UK.

Veterans can also access specialist mental and physical health support through Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE, which provide a broad range of specialist mental health, physical and wellbeing care services to veterans in England, with similar services available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For employment support, the MOD-hosted Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is the initial point of employment support provision for veterans for up to two years before and after leaving military service. Op ASCEND is available two years after discharge and connects veterans and their families with employers and supports them into sustainable careers in strategic sectors.

This Government has also announced VALOUR, a new programme giving veterans across the UK easier access to the essential care and support available to them. VALOUR support centres will facilitate access to multiple services for veterans, and will connect local, regional, and national services. A network of regional field officers will bring together charities, service providers, and local government to improve collaboration and coordination, enabling data-driven policy and service development. VALOUR HQ, within the MOD, will gather data and insight, working with policy and research teams to ensure services are designed to meet local needs.

The affected engines have been removed following the incident.

The performance of the National Armaments Director (NAD) will be assessed against a set of objectives. These objectives will be agreed and measured through appropriate Accounting Officer governance. The objectives in line with their accountability to Parliament. They will align with the intent set out in the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy, and the NAD Group’s organisational performance. The NAD has a specific performance award as part of their total remuneration package which enables an annual award of up to a maximum of 60% of base pay to made based against these objectives.

The time on the wing for the engines that were damaged are - engine (a) 35 months 24 days, since 27 June 2022; engine (b) 15 months 8 days since 12 Mar 2024.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) deploys oxygen concentrators under certain circumstances to deliver oxygen without pressurised cylinders.

The Defence Investment Plan will set out any further funding available to support the wider roll out of oxygen concentrators to deliver oxygen to battlefield trauma casualties.

The Ministry of Defence decided to pause future Israeli participation on UK training and education courses until the situation in Gaza and the West Bank had been satisfactorily addressed We will keep this decision under review.

The Defence Growth Board met on 30 July 2025. It was attended by the Secretary of State for Defence, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Business, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Permanent Secretary, the MOD interim National Armaments Director and other senior officials from Departments.

The UK works closely with its NATO and European Allies to improve collective understanding of evolving threats, integrate space more effectively into defence operations, and pursue interoperability and resilience across our space assets and space-based services.

In addition to working with partners, the UK continues to invest in its national capabilities, including through the work of UK Space Command and the development of advanced satellite technologies. These efforts are aimed at enhancing Space Domain Awareness strengthening the resilience of critical space assets, and ensuring the UK can respond effectively to emerging threats in the space domain.

Working nationally and with Allies and partners, the UK remains committed to maintaining the security and operational integrity of British satellites, as part of a broader strategy to safeguard and ensure we can deter and, if necessary, protect our interests in space.

The UK is committed to defending every inch of NATO territory, including our contribution of Typhoon jets to defend Polish airspace as part of NATO’s Eastern Sentry. NATO is more united than ever as we continue to work closely to support Ukraine and defend the alliance’s territory. The Defence Secretary recently confirmed that we will be extending our contribution to Eastern Sentry until the end of 2025. Over the past 18 months, the RAF has also conducted routine deployments of Typhoons to both Poland and Romania to protect NATO airspace.

In the UK, RAF fighter jets at RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth are held at continuous high readiness 24/7, 365 days a year, to protect UK sovereign airspace. They routinely launch to intercept unidentified aircraft flying in the UK’s area of interest as part of NATO’s air policing mission.

As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, our Test and Evaluation Transformation programme is piloting the provision of a high-fidelity virtual test range, focused on the evaluation of UK equipment in the most demanding operational environments. This project will pave the way for the UK Defence enterprise to rapidly test, innovate and integrate systems against the most demanding operational use-cases.

Since publication of the Defence Industrial Strategy, the project’s technical approach has been tested through the largest and most ambitious multinational trial ever undertaken on a virtual range of this type. This successfully validated the technical direction of the project and work is underway to establish the facilities needed to expand access to the pilot by the summer of 2026.

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

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.

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

The information is published annually. The most recent data can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-regional-expenditure-statistics-with-industry-202425/mod-regional-expenditure-with-industry-202425#mod-expenditure-with-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises

The latest publicly available figures were released in September 2025 and cover the 2024-25 financial year period. 4% (£1.2 billion) of MOD direct expenditure with UK industry was with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in 2024-25.

In 2024-25, The Ministry of Defence global expenditure with industry (including direct payments to industry, foreign governments and via Foreign Military Sales with the US) was £38 billion. Of this, £32 billion (84%) was for work taking place in the UK.

The mental health and wellbeing of our Armed Forces is a priority for the Government and will continue to be funded.

All Service personnel have access to mental health support throughout their career, including medical and non-medical services. This includes, but is not limited to, preventative support such as wellbeing services, digital content, access to trained mental health first aiders, interventional support, and appointments with clinical staff.

For Armed Forces personnel requiring dedicated mental healthcare, the Defence Medical Services provides a responsive, flexible, accessible, and comprehensive treatment service.

The Government provided £59.24 million to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission during the Financial Year 2024-25.

This information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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

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.

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.

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.

The Defence Industrial Strategy set out average times to contract for major projects (such as tanks, frigates and aircraft) of six years, and for pace-setting modular upgrades (such as comms, sensors and weapons upgrades) of three years. We have set targets to reduce these averages to two years and one year respectively, and a target of three-month cycles for rapid commercial exploitation.

The introduction of this segmented approach to procurement, with associated timescale targets, is a key element of our acquisition system reforms. This initiative, and our move to a portfolio-driven approach, will drive greater to increase pace and agility in delivery. Our support to Ukraine has shown the pace at which we can deliver.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The National Armaments Director (NAD) was appointed on 13 October 2025 and started the role on 14 October 2025.

The hon. Gentleman met him on 27 October in the House and I hope he found it useful.

The Security and Defence Partnership agreed with the European Union on 19 May 2025 is an example of this Government delivering on our manifesto commitments to strengthen European security, support growth and reinforce NATO.

We will continue to prioritise engagement and cooperation on the issues that are most important in helping to safeguard European security and prosperity – all in support of this government’s NATO First defence policy as set out in the Security and Defence Review.

The Security and Defence Partnership outlines that the UK will consider its participation in EU CSDP civilian and military crisis management activity. This cooperation can take many forms and officials are in discussions with the EU to explore potential options.

The Government’s election manifesto committed to placing the Armed Forces Covenant fully into law. During Armed Forces week in June, the Prime Minister announced that Service personnel, Veterans, their families and the bereaved are to have their unique circumstances legally protected by central and devolved Governments for the first time under new plans to extend the Covenant Legal Duty to more policy areas and across the UK. It is our ambition to include these statutory changes in the next Armed Forces Bill.

Defence has made a concerted effort and is absolutely committed to raising awareness of the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty through our election manifesto commitment to fully extend the duty into law. This includes the creation of a Duty toolkit which explains the practical implications for the Armed Forces community and outlines the key policies that it encompasses. The toolkit is held on the Covenant’s dedicated website, available at the following link: https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/

Questions concerning the Duty are embedded within both the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey and Families Continuous Attitude Survey, helping to assess awareness levels and identify areas where Service personnel and families may face disadvantage. Through the implementation of the Covenant Legal Duty Extension, we will be producing and providing educational and communications’ resources to support understanding further.