Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral evidence of the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence to the Public Accounts Committee on 4 June 2018, Q41 and Q135, for what reason his Department has not made any assessment of (a) the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the STEM ecosystem and (b) the potential consequential effect of changes in that ecosystem on recruitment to the armed forces; and what assessment his Department will now make of those issues.

Following the EU Exit referendum, as part of the formulation of Ministry of Defence strategy, an assessment was undertaken of the potential impact of BREXIT on Armed Forces recruitment and retention. It concluded that BREXIT was unlikely to impact directly on Armed Forces recruitment, given our nationality requirements, but there could be a secondary impact should BREXIT increase demand for scarce skills in the UK. This could, indirectly, impact on Armed Forces recruitment and retention. The Ministry of Defence is preparing its comments on the Public Accounts Committee transcript of 4 June and will provide an appropriate clarification to the Committee.