Asked by: Will Stone (Labour - Swindon North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of adjusting the cycle of procurement for SMEs so that Government contracts are issued throughout the year.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts are issued throughout the year and not just at a specific time of the year. The Acquisition pipeline for the MOD was being published twice per year and indicated the anticipated date for publication of the tenders across the next 18+ months.
The Department currently publishes an 18 month forward look of our procurement pipeline but will move to continuous updates for the benefit of suppliers (including SMEs) registered on the Central Digital Platform.
Consideration of SMEs is a key element in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy and, as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, we will reform the MOD procurement and acquisition processes to ensure we deliver the capabilities defence requires now and in the future.
Asked by: Will Stone (Labour - Swindon North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department is taking steps to help develop female-specific body armour.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence is an active participant in NATO work to explore options to further optimise body armour for our Service personnel, including for females. The current Tactical Ballistic Plate (TBP) project will deliver hard armour plates in a range of different sizes, thus ensuring greater comfort and integration for all users across Defence. Multiple Human Factors Integration (HFI) trials have been completed with female representation.
Asked by: Will Stone (Labour - Swindon North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help ensure improved (a) interoperability and (b) coordination between drone systems procured by his Department.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Uncrewed systems are changing the character of warfare. The pace of military and civilian uncrewed technology evolution means our traditional approaches to acquisition, regulation and operation need to adapt. Learning lessons from the conflict in Ukraine to optimise capabilities, programmes like the RAF StormShroud is evidence of this. The Department seeks to ensure that all its capabilities have the necessary interoperability with systems and allies. Further development and investment will be directed by the Strategic Defence Review recommendations.