Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recommendation 35 of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, what progress he has made in developing mechanisms for enhanced parliamentary scrutiny to provide confidence that funding from the public purse is being spent wisely in pursuit of the nation’s highest defence priority.

The Government will establish a new Commons-only Committee to conduct scrutiny of Defence Nuclear Enterprise expenditure and programmes, subject to the approval of the House of Commons. The new Committee will have a tightly focused remit and will consider relevant reports from the National Audit Office.

The Government is working with Parliament to set up the new, non-statutory Committee and in due course will bring forward a motion to establish the Committee under the Standing Orders.