Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 42 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what elements will be covered in the (a) Defence Finance and Investment Strategy and (b) Defence Investment Plan.

The forthcoming Defence Investment Plan will, for the very first time, outline our investment priorities, taking into account our priority national security sub-sectors and the associated UK industrial capability. It will cover the full scope of the defence programme, from people and operations to equipment and infrastructure, to ensure we can deliver the vision set out in the Strategic Defence Review.

The Defence Finance and Investment Strategy will look at the entire spectrum of defence companies, from start-ups through to primes, and provide recommendations to the Defence Secretary on how barriers to investment in defence can be removed while making the sector more attractive for private investment, including venture capital, private equity and pension funds.

We have stood up a Defence Investors Advisory Group to help develop the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy, bringing together some of the best minds from banking, pension funds, venture capital and Strategic Finance. The Advisory Group held their first meeting on 27 October.