Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in what circumstances would the armed forces be deployed to assist public services in dealing with the covid-19 outbreak.

Defence routinely conducts contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios and we continue to engage with colleagues cross-Government to help identify where we can best provide support. There are long-standing principles that underpin decision making with regards to the provision of military assistance. These principles are laid out in Joint Doctrine Publication 02 UK Operations: The Defence Contribution to resilience and Security, which is available on the Gov.uk website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/operations-in-the-uk-a-joint-doctrine-publication