Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Charters Excerpts

Monday 19th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Jeevun Sandher (Loughborough) (Lab)]

1. What steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are able to participate in defence procurement contracts.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to increase support for SMEs in the defence sector.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

8. What steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are able to participate in defence procurement contracts.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Healey]

My hon. Friend is quite right about the fact that capabilities are now changing in weeks, not months or even years. He is also right about finance. That is why I went to the London stock exchange last week and closed the markets—I think it was the first time a Defence Secretary has ever done that. I wanted to signal that this Government want a new partnership with not just industry and innovators, but investors, and that means changing the way in which defence does its work.

[Mr Charters]

I have met outstanding UK SMEs, such as Supacat, 4GD and many others, which contribute to the sovereign industrial base that our security depends on. However, under the last Government, the percentage of Ministry of Defence direct expenditure going to SMEs fell, from 5% to 4%. Will my right hon. Friend confirm when this Government expect to surpass that record and therefore back the innovation we need to equip our forces and support our allies?

[John Healey]

I congratulate and thank my hon. Friend, as well as my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker), for the work that they are doing on innovative finance, which will help SMEs in future. I look forward to the publication of their Royal United Services Institute report shortly. I can confirm that SME involvement in the defence supply chain will be boosted by new spending targets that I will set in June to produce exactly the sort of result that my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters) is looking for.