Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment has he made of the level of the UK's reliance on foreign welders for the construction of defence infrastructure and resources.

It is generally the responsibility of industry to develop and employ the skilled workforce they need to win and deliver Defence contracts. As set out in the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that it can help industry by being as transparent as we can about future requirements, giving industry visibility of future programmes and more confidence to plan and invest for the future, including in their workforce. This includes welding and engineer apprentices to secure the long-term skills base as well as today's needs.

MOD has published its future pipeline of work through the Equipment Plan, Defence Capability Framework, Acquisition Pipelines, and sector strategies such as the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the Land Industrial Strategy.