Securing Scotland’s Future: Defence Skills and Jobs

Torcuil Crichton Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Patricia Ferguson]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for mentioning our excellent Clerks, who ensure not only that we are kept on our toes but that we get the best possible evidence for our inquiries. She is right about the problem that many SMEs have. It is easy to think of those jobs as being very technical in nature, as she describes, but we sometimes forget about the people who provide logistics and other services to these suppliers. It is important that the opportunities to benefit from the work in the sector spread across the range of roles, particularly in those areas where employment is perhaps more vulnerable or fragile. We want to see the Government do as much as they can to allow those jobs to filter down.

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

I thank the Chair for the report, which is one of many valuable reports that have come from the Scottish Affairs Committee under her leadership. I welcome it in particular as it relates to unlocking the potential of SMEs in Scotland, which, according to the report, currently receive less than 0.078% of MOD spending.

I was pleased recently to see the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry launch Project Safari at the MOD Hebrides range, which will make it easier and simpler for SMEs to access test and evaluation facilities here in the UK. Does the Chair agree that the 50 highly skilled jobs at the Hebrides range and the vast area of the Atlantic that it offers for test and evaluation are an invaluable contribution to the defence capability of this country and will help unlock the potential of Scottish SMEs to grow?

[Patricia Ferguson]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. As he knows, the Committee has visited many of the facilities in his constituency and adjacent constituencies —I was going to say “neighbouring” constituencies, but really there are no neighbouring constituencies in his part of the world.

Fifty sounds like a small number to some of us, but for a community like his it is a large number. Those are skilled jobs, and they will be there for a long time to come, so he is absolutely right to mention that. I agree entirely that Project Safari is a great opportunity, and it is also great to see—I will try not to use the word “great” too often—that his constituency, slightly remote though it is, can benefit from the defence contracts available now across Scotland.