Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the logistics industry on enabling logistic workforce mobilisation.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Supporting the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy’s intent of enhancing surge capacity and resilience through industry collaboration, the Ministry of Defence has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with nine companies within the logistic workforce sector.
The MoU explores ways of enabling rapid logistic workforce mobilisation within the Strategic Base, at times of national crisis.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the press release of 26 December 2025 on defence exports, which countries accounted for the largest share of UK defence exports in 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The figure in the press release stating the UK secures over £20 billion in defence exports to allies in 2025 published on 26 December 2025 refers to the value of several significant and already publicised defence export deals agreed in 2025.
The Ministry of Defence does not publish country level data for defence exports. The most recently published defence export statistics, covering 2023, details exports by destination region.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total value of UK defence exports was in 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The figure in the press release stating the UK secures over £20 billion in defence exports to allies in 2025 published on 26 December 2025 refers to the value of several significant and already publicised defence export deals agreed in 2025.
The Ministry of Defence does not publish country level data for defence exports. The most recently published defence export statistics, covering 2023, details exports by destination region.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the press release of 26 December 2025 on defence exports, what export promotion activities were undertaken by the Department in 2025; and what assessment has been made of their effectiveness in securing new defence export contracts.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Industrial Strategy made clear that “The new Office of Defence Exports (ODE) means responsibility for defence exports has been unified under the control of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). This creates a Government-to-Government exports offer which reflects what our allies and our industry need”. The ODE will help deliver our commitments to boost UK export potential.
The MOD and wider HMG participated in nine international tradeshows in 2025, including DSEI UK. The Department continually seeks feedback on the effectiveness of HMG export promotion activities from industry and international partners, and prioritises participation in future tradeshows based on an assessment of future opportunities.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many complaints relating to the condition of military home accommodation were received in the last 12 months; and how many of those properties were included in recently reported upgrades.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Condition of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) is not a categorisation used by the Department’s Industry Partner, Pinnacle, when recording complaints. Therefore, this information is not held in the format requested and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025 Pinnacle received a total of 4,408 individual complaints in relation to SFA.
For the Department to determine which of those complaints fall into the scope of ‘condition of SFA’, Pinnacle would be required to review a total of 4,408 complaints (with an average of 10 minutes per complaint). Therefore, at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release of 26 December 2025 on defence exports, what proportion of UK defence export contracts in 2025 included participation by small and medium‑sized enterprises; and what steps the Department is taking to increase SME involvement in future export programmes.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The contracts the press release includes are significant in scope and led by large Prime contractors. While these contracts will involve SME subcontractors, the Department does not hold data on the proportion of SME value, as that is a matter for the Prime.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) supports SMEs to export through our Export Faculty, which supports SMEs to access these opportunities. The Faculty membership grew from around 1,900 to over 2,500 SMEs in 2025.
The new Defence Office for Small Business Growth will further boost support for SMEs, signposting sources of expert advice including the Export Faculty and delivering on our target to increase MOD’s spend with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release entitled Northwood Declaration: 10 July 2025 (UK-France joint nuclear statement), what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of that declaration on UK nuclear operations and cooperation with France.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The United Kingdom and France remain two sovereign nuclear-weapon states. Our respective nuclear forces and decision-making processes are independent, while we each retain the ability to act independently of each other, we can co-ordinate our deterrents should the situation demand it. It will remain the case that only the Prime Minister can authorise the firing of the UK’s nuclear weapons.
Deepening nuclear co-operation between the UK and France improves our ability to work together in times of crisis and strengthens our existing commitments to our Allies in an uncertain and dangerous world. The possibility of coordination between our independent centres of decision-making will enhance deterrence by further complicating the calculations of adversaries.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release entitled Northwood Declaration: 10 July 2025 (UK-France joint nuclear statement), what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of that declaration on the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The United Kingdom and France remain two sovereign nuclear-weapon states. Our respective nuclear forces and decision-making processes are independent, while we each retain the ability to act independently of each other, we can co-ordinate our deterrents should the situation demand it. It will remain the case that only the Prime Minister can authorise the firing of the UK’s nuclear weapons.
Deepening nuclear co-operation between the UK and France improves our ability to work together in times of crisis and strengthens our existing commitments to our Allies in an uncertain and dangerous world. The possibility of coordination between our independent centres of decision-making will enhance deterrence by further complicating the calculations of adversaries.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of hybrid threats from the Russian Federation on defence policy.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Strategic Defence Review highlights the breadth and depth of threats posed by hybrid activity.
Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat and it seeks to take advantage of the difficulty of attributing hybrid attacks through covert methods and proxies.
Many hybrid threats are not military in nature and therefore a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach is essential. The Ministry of Defence works in close collaboration with other Government Departments and with our allies and partners to address shared threats below the threshold of armed conflict.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support cross‑government responses to hybrid activities from Russia.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Strategic Defence Review highlights the breadth and depth of threats posed by hybrid activity.
Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat and it seeks to take advantage of the difficulty of attributing hybrid attacks through covert methods and proxies.
Many hybrid threats are not military in nature and therefore a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach is essential. The Ministry of Defence works in close collaboration with other Government Departments and with our allies and partners to address shared threats below the threshold of armed conflict.