Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that compliance requirements relating to sanctions, export controls and anti-money-laundering rules do not have a disproportionate effect on defence SMEs.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT operates a clear, proportionate, and robust system of export controls and sanctions, promoting both UK prosperity and national and global security. DBT supports all exporters with their compliance obligations through a suite of regularly updated guidance, coupled with stakeholder outreach. This is intended to make our regulations less costly and easier to implement.
Access to finance can be a significant issue for defence firms, particularly SMEs. HMG is actively engaging with banks to ensure they understand the importance of the defence sector. Through the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy, MOD is exploring how it can improve the investability of the sector, including by considering the role of the MOD relative to compliance checks carried out by the investor community.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access of defence SMEs to basic banking services.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government is committed to increasing direct spend with SMEs and are committed to ensuring they have a fair opportunity to win public contracts.
As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, Ministry of Defence is backing British jobs, British industry and British innovators. Since the election, we have awarded more than 1,200 major contracts, and 86% of those contracts were awarded to British-based businesses.
In January we established a dedicated Defence Office for Small business Growth to boost opportunities and access to defence contracts and the supply chain, on top of our commitment to increase spend with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028.
Delivering on the commitments made in the SDR and DIS, we are developing a dedicated Defence Finance and Investment Strategy (DFIS). This is supported by a new Defence Investors’ Advisory Group, bringing together senior expertise from venture capital, private equity, and banking to address barriers to financing and investment in the sector.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has assessed the potential impact of a lack of long-term demand certainty on the ability of defence companies to raise external finance.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Delivering on the commitments made in the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy, we are developing a dedicated Defence Finance and Investment Strategy (DFIS). This is supported by a Defence Investors’ Advisory Group, bringing together senior expertise from across the finance and investment ecosystem.
The DFIS will set out a new long-term, strategic partnership with finance and investment. This partnership aims to leverage the strengths of the UK's world-leading financial ecosystem to support our defence objectives while fostering national economic growth.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on reducing complexity in export-control processes for defence SMEs.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Export control processes are designed carefully to facilitate responsible exports, balancing appropriate levels of control over defence-related exports with compliance requirements for business. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) will work with the Department for Business and Trade in conducting a review of export licensing working to ensure those processes remain fit for purpose, in line with the recommendations of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review. MOD also helps UK Defence SMEs understand and navigate UK export controls through the UK Defence Exports Faculty, to maximise their export success.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent misconceptions about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and sustainable finance rules from affecting access to finance for companies involved in lawful defence production.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy (DFIS) is set to be published later in 2026. The DFIS will address barriers to financing and investment in the sector – including supporting businesses access finance, in partnership with public financial institutions and private capital.
To inform the DFIS, we have held working sessions on debanking and on Environmental, Social, and Governance considerations, working with regulators, industry, the financial sector and other government departments.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many apprentices her Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) is part of the Cabinet Office. No external apprentices were recruited specifically into OEO in either 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025.
Although we did not recruit any apprentices, OEO remains committed to professional development; during this period, existing staff members have undertaken apprenticeships alongside their roles to support their career progression and technical expertise.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that the UK's approach to crop protection authorisation is safeguarded under the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK-EU SPS agreement is under negotiation and pesticides regulations are in scope. The Common Understanding sets out that the United Kingdom, acting in respect of Great Britain, will dynamically align with all the relevant European Union rules. The Common Understanding further sets out that the UK will be involved at an early stage to contribute to the decision-shaping process on areas within scope of the Agreement.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to secure assurances from the European Union on a permanent carve-out for products authorised under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 in any new Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies.
Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a carve-out for precision bred organisms from dynamic alignment under the proposed UK-EU SPS agreement has been agreed with the EU.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to implementing the Precision Breeding Act and enabling the safe development of innovative genetic technologies.
Under the UK‑EU Common Understanding, it is recognised that there will be areas where the UK will retain its own rules. The detail of those is subject to ongoing negotiations, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what consideration he has given to the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact on the importance of international collaboration in university research; and what steps his Department is taking to support such collaboration.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department acknowledges the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, which presents the globally competitive strength of Scotland’s higher education system and its importance in tackling shared global challenges. The Department supports international research collaboration through UK wide activity, including the promotion of universities and the wider research and innovation sector through the UK’s Science & Technology Network, through access to funding support such as Horizon Europe, the International Science Partnerships Fund and our core support to UK research institutions, and through bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation. These measures support research excellence and knowledge exchange across the UK, including in Scotland.