Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release following the Defence Secretary keynote speech at the Sea Power Conference 2019, dated 15 May 2019, from which (a) person or (b) organisation his Department commissioned the research into lessons from the MARS tanker procurement exercise; what the cost to the public purse was of that research; and if he place a copy of that research in the Library.

The research into lessons from the MARS tanker procurement was commissioned by my right hon. Friend Penny Mordaunt MP, the then Secretary of State for Defence. This research was conducted jointly by officials within Navy Command and the Defence Equipment and Support organisation at no additional cost to the Department. Due to commercial sensitivities, consideration is under way to identify if any elements of this could be made public. Any public release would also be copied to the Library of the House.