Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many events organised on behalf of his Department have received sponsorship from Babcock International in the last 12 months.

From 1 April 2016 to date Babcock has entered into eight sponsorship arrangements with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), six of which supported non-publicly funded sporting events, and two others in respect of a publicly funded magazine and an air display team.

MOD policy is to deal with external organisations in a fair, equitable, open and transparent way, allowing no opportunity for, or the perception of, undue influence to be exerted by the external organisation in the decision-making processes. Each sponsorship arrangement is individually evaluated on these principles as well as for the demonstrable benefit to the MOD. We publish a summary of sponsorship arrangements which support publicly funded events and activities valued at £5,000 or more in our Annual Report and Accounts.