Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the National Audit Office’s report entitled The Equipment Plan 2023 to 2033, published on 4 December 2023.

Whilst the National Audit Office (NAO) report recognises the significant impact global headwinds and extraordinary inflation has had on UK defence, it does not and could not accurately reflect the current or future state of the Armed Forces Equipment Plan as it represents a snapshot in time which predates the Defence Command Plan 2023.

We are working hard to deliver the equipment our Service people need to keep the UK safe. We have therefore increased the budget for the Equipment Plan to £288.6 billion over the next decade.