Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many legally-qualified staff working for his Department as of November 2023 (a) have received training in and (b) are qualified specifically in procurement law.

The Ministry of Defence has of 14 November 2023 86 civilians employed as lawyers or intellectual property-qualified professionals and 211 military lawyers - inclusive of 26 Reservists - serving as members of the three Services' legal branches/capbadge who are qualified as lawyers.

The Ministry of Defence does no hold specific records have received training in and/or are qualified specifically in procurement law. This as the majority of our civilian lawyers assigned/on-loan from other government departments, principally the Government Legal Department, and their records are held by their employing department or are employed directly by the Ministry of Defence on the basis of them being intellectual property-qualified professionals.

There are other staff within the Ministry of Defence who hold academic/professional legal qualifications but are not employed in roles where holding such a qualification is a direct requirement of their appointment/duties and are not, therefore, considered members of its Legal function.