Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to recent reports on the Australian Land200 programme, what assessment his Department makes of the security of critical systems when acquiring those systems from overseas suppliers.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has robust procedures in place to assess the security of both critical systems and their suppliers, whether those systems are procured from overseas or within the UK. The MOD requires all suppliers to engage with the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership, which ensures cyber security controls in the supply chain are proportionate to the nature of the contract. The MOD further ensures that critical systems are designed and operated with proportionate security controls in place, through an accreditation process which begins at the design phase and is regularly assessed through life.