Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2025 to Question 34904 on Defence: Procurement, whether the target for direct SME spending will be published separately to the Spending Review.

The Ministry of Defence is required, along with all other Government Departments, to agree and publish a target for direct spend with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by June 2025. The Department is committed to publishing a stretching but achievable target to meet this requirement. Work on the SME direct spend target is being undertaken separately but in parallel with development of other departmental publications and the spending review.