Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral contribution of 17 July 2018, Official Report, column 241, how many academics were consulted as part of the development of the Combat Air Strategy; and how many of those academics were women.

A broad range of academic institutions were consulted during the development of the Combat Air Strategy, including Cranfield University, the Strategy and Security Unit at the University of Exeter, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS), RAND Europe and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Ministry of Defence officials had face to face consultations with 11 academics, three of whom were women.