Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he expects day-to-day departmental spending to fall in real terms by the end of the 2022-23 Parliament.

The Department received a revised settlement of RDEL following the Spending Review 21 last autumn, which noted the cost pressures on the Department as a result of changes in the economic forecast.

The department has measures in place to limit the impacts including the forward purchase of foreign exchange, firm price contracts and purchase of long-lead items. The potential effects of the current levels of inflation on our pay and programmes remain under continuous review.