Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to promote the use of small and medium sized businesses in the Department's supply chain.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence is an engine for growth. The Department is taking significant steps to promote the use of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within its supply chain. The new Office for Small Business Growth is being established to provide a single access point for SMEs and improve navigation across the Defence landscape.
The existing Doing Business with Defence industry engagement team regularly attend events and shows across the country including working closely with our major suppliers and trade associations to engage smaller and non-traditional suppliers. Recent examples include DSEI in September and the DPRTE Defence Summit held in Manchester in October.
Additionally, to expand regional reach, Regional Defence and Security Clusters (RDSCs) are being established throughout the UK, and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK, is being developed to leverage cross-sector expertise and world-class research facilities.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the operational effectiveness of his Department's (a) water and (b) wastewater services contracted with third party providers.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Project Aquatrine is the collective project name of three Public Private Partnership agreements between strategic water and wastewater suppliers and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
Project Aquatrine established strategic management of water and sewerage services across the MOD estate. The project has clearly defined objectives and Key Performance Indicators to track progress and ensure accountability.
It has been successful in achieving its objectives of improving water and wastewater services across MOD sites in Great Britain. Key successes include reduced leakage, improved water quality, and increased efficiency.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on issuing Armed Forces Pension Scheme Remediable Service Statements to all members who require one by 30 September 2025.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
There are 34,917 Immediate Choice members in scope to receive a Remediable Service Statement (RSS), of which 13,066 have been issued as of 31 May 2025.
Of the 60,813 Active Member RSSs, 43,977 have been issued. The remaining 16,836 (27 per cent) are complex cases requiring manual intervention.
For the Deferred Member cohort, no RSSs have been issued, however, these will begin to arrive with members by September 2025.
If an RSS cannot be issued by September 2025, affected members will be notified in writing with an explanation, revised timelines, and further details published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many permanent civil servants in his Department had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The information requested is outlined in the table below:
Financial Year Total | |
2022-23 | 25 |
2023-24 | 45 |
2024-25 | 51 |
Grand Total | 121 |
Please note that the data in this table is from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 and that ‘dismissal performance’ was marked as the reason for dismissal.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of outsourcing procurement operations to the private sector.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Ministry of Defence continually assesses the most effective and efficient means of delivering its procurement operations. While the Department has not published a specific standalone assessment solely focused on outsourcing procurement operations, it operates as part of the Government Commercial Function, within the broader framework of Government guidance, including the Outsourcing Playbook and the Sourcing Playbook. The playbooks set out best practices for evaluating outsourcing decisions across Government Departments.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of his Department's procurement function.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The Ministry of Defence delivers some of the most complex programmes in Government.
We recognise the need for radical reform of the defence procurement system to reduce waste, speed up decision making, support UK growth and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Through our Defence Reforms our new National Armaments Director will ensure our forces have the equipment they need, when they need it.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, we will improve delivery through a segmented approach to procurement, tailoring acquisition processes to the type of capability, supplier and risk involved; and introduce service agnostic capability portfolios to increase flexibility and drive pace.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March to Question 33788 on Ministry of Defence: Written Questions, whether AI is used at any stage in the drafting of responses to parliamentary questions.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence is exploring various applications of AI to enhance corporate services and drive efficiency. Officials may use approved AI tools (such as large language models) when developing responses to parliamentary questions, but responsibility for finalising and approving drafts rest with officials.
All parliamentary questions remain reviewed and signed off by a Minister.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to expand its procurement activities to UK Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make a vital contribution to economic growth and are a valuable source of technical innovation in defence. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy Statement of Intent, and the governments National Procurement Policy Statement.
As announced in the Spring Statement, with defence spending rising, we will spend a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget on novel technologies, including drones and AI enabled technology. We will establish a protected budget of £400 million within the Ministry of Defence, that will rise over time for UK Defence Innovation.
This is in addition to the announcement the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary made on 3 March which included the launch of a new hub to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain. We have committed to set a direct SME spending target for the Ministry of Defence by June this year, increasing our spend with them and ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK will benefit from the historic decision to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of housing provision for service personnel.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Circa 97% of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) meets or exceeds the Government's Decent Homes Standard. Only these properties should be allocated to families.
Investment to maintain and improve the quality of SFA in the United Kingdom continues. Circa £445 million is forecast to be spent for this Financial Year 2024-25.
Despite efforts to improve accommodation quality, challenges persist. Work is underway with the Defence Housing Strategy Review which started following the completion of the Annington Deal in January 2025. The Military Housing Strategy planned for publication in Summer 2025 will set out a roadmap to deliver a generational renewal of military accommodation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether they have made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in their Department on annual staffing costs.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence has no current plans to make an estimate of the kind described. In a competitive age, our advantage derives from the talent and skills of our people. Attracting, recruiting, and retaining the best people drawn from the broadest diversity of thought, skills and background is mission critical to our operational effectiveness. People that think differently provide alternative solutions to complex problems and reduce the risk of groupthink and lack of challenge. The reason we seek to increase our diversity levels is to make us more effective at closing with and defeating the enemy, should we be required to do so.