Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the decline in defence exports.

Defence export figures fluctuate on a year to year basis given the long term nature of defence acquisition. In the context of an increasingly competitive global market, the UK’s defence exports were £7.7 billion in 2015. Based on past performance, over a five year period, the figures demonstrate that the sector’s core business is strong.