Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people employed in the defence industry in (a) July 2024 and (b) March 2026.

The ‘MOD Supported Employment Estimates Report’ presents the number of direct and indirect jobs supported by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 2023-24 by UK region and industry group. The report can be found on the gov.uk website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-supported-employment-estimates-202324/mod-supported-employment-estimates-202324

For financial year 2023-24 (the most recent time period available), 272,000 direct and indirect jobs were supported through MOD expenditure with UK industry. The Statistics covering 2024-25 will be published later this summer.