Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November to Question 117223 on Defence: Coronavirus, what criteria are used to decide which defence outputs are classed as critical during periods of covid-19 restrictions.

Defence priorities are reviewed annually and articulated in the Defence Plan. This outlines non-discretionary and discretionary tasks for Defence and is one of the key criteria used to identify critical activity. While the detail is classified, examples of non-discretionary tasks which were maintained during COVID restrictions include those relating to the Continuous At Sea Deterrent, homeland security, major operations and crisis response.