Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 110 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Army’s contribution to the (a) planning, (b) preparation and (c) delivery of defence support to domestic resilience if it were mobilised for war.

The Army, Royal Navy and RAF all continuously contribute to national resilience and would do so in a time of war. At present personnel are held at very high readiness to respond to domestic crises, and have formed the backbone of domestic resilience efforts over the past several years, including during Covid.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and National Security Strategy highlighted the importance of domestic resilience in a time a crisis. Working closely with the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence Programme, we are developing plans and policies in a range of Home Defence related areas, taking the spirit and recommendations of the SDR and applying that to the whole range of policy areas that flow from it, including support to domestic resilience planning and preparation.