Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support the Global Combat Air Programme between the UK, Japan and Italy.

The UK has a £10 billion budget to support the programme over the next ten years. We have invested £1 billion in R&D to develop the skills and technologies required, with a further £1 billion planned. This has been supported by an further significant investment from our core UK industry partners (BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK, MBDA UK). Together, we are delivering advanced industrial technologies including digital design and additive manufacturing facilities, as at BAE Systems' Factory of the Future in Lancashire, and recruiting people from across the country with specialist skills in areas such as software engineering.