Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK’s defence industrial base.

This Defence Industrial Strategy (published on 8 September 2025) emphasises the importance of supporting UK-based businesses, to build and maintain a thriving, resilient and competitive UK industrial base.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly assesses the UK’s defence industrial base to ensure it meets national security needs. Recent efforts focus on strengthening supply chain resilience, addressing workforce skills gaps, fostering innovation, enhancing collaboration with allies, and supporting sustainable, modern defence solutions.

This Government is directing more of a growing defence budget at British based firms and we have committed to increasing direct spend with SMES by 50% by 2027. We continue to support the development of our defence industrial base, by implementing the Defence Industrial Strategy. The hon. Member will also have seen announcements from the MOD on creating new Defence Technical Excellence Colleges to increase skills for our defence industrial base and the announcements of five defence growth deals.