Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of potential merits of increasing domestic critical mineral capacity for UK defence supply chains.

The recent Strategic Defence Review recognised the UK's dependence on "intricate global supply chains to meet the UK's demand for critical minerals", (SDR 25 Page 32). Although Defence capabilities are dependent on a wide range of critical minerals Defence is a small consumer of these materials. As such, the MOD works closely with DBT and UK Industry partners to consider the potential for "on-shore" sourcing of critical minerals and with DBT, FCDO and NATO to consider resilient supply of these materials from overseas partners. The MOD recognises the potential of recycling and recovery of critical minerals from defence equipment to reduce dependency on imported critical minerals.