Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 63 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review, published 2 June 2025, what progress he has made on establishing the necessary conditions for boosting defence exports and joint capability partnerships.

Through Defence Reform and a Machinery of Government change the key teams responsible for exports promotion, capability partnerships and delivery of government-to-government relationships have been successfully brought together under the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group for the first time.

We have established a ministerial Defence Exports Board to provide clear direction, and are introducing Senior Responsible Officers for the most critical relationships to drive progress and enhance join-up cross-government. We have stood up a team responsible for government-to-government partnerships, under a new director level specialist role.

The Ministry of Defence continues to embed exportability and capability partnering into procurement choices from the start, enabled by high-level agreements such as those under Lancaster House (with France), Trinity House (with Germany) and Lunna House (with Norway, signed in December 2025).