Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent representations he has received about delays in the national security vetting process.

Ministers have received a small number of letters from hon. Members about delays in the national security vetting process.

Processing requests for National Security Vetting clearances are, by nature, very robust as they help to establish the integrity of the applicant. Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) is also reliant upon a number of third party suppliers to complete the security checks.

This has been exacerbated by a key third party supplier encountering difficulties with their IT system, which is outside of the control of the Ministry of Defence. However, these issues have now been resolved and additional personnel have been recruited to address the high volumes of applications.