Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the greatest economic benefit to the UK from his Department's (a) public procurement and (b) award of contracts.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continually seeks to improve its public procurement and contract award processes to obtain the best commercial outcome for the taxpayer. We do this in a way that looks to strengthen our economy and prosperity where it is relevant to what is being procured and is fair and non-discriminatory. To maximise UK economic benefits, the MOD uses the Treasury's Green Book framework when making these decisions.

Since 2015, we have published a National Shipbuilding Strategy, launched the Future Combat Air Strategy, and refreshed our Defence Industrial Policy to help strengthen UK competitiveness. We also routinely engage with global primes to create opportunities for all tiers of the UK supply chain.

On 14 March 2019, the Defence Secretary announced an ambitious Defence Prosperity Programme to grow Defence's contribution to UK prosperity. As part of this programme we are working jointly with industry and academia to improve the quality and relevance of defence economic data that is available to decision makers.