Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants at the Ministry of Defence on the deployment of armed forces during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Ministry of Defence has provided regular advice to the Prime Minister since the COVID-19 outbreak and we routinely conduct contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios. In response to the Covid outbreak, we have stood up an additional support force of 10,000 military personnel at higher readiness. At present, however, there are no immediate plans for any large-scale deployments of the military. Defence is prepared to support other Government Departments, if required.