Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many employees in his Department work on matters related to covid-19.

Ministry of Defence personnel working on COVID-19 do so primarily as 'business as usual' as part of broader responsibilities. For example, teams that consider the Defence contribution to UK resilience consider issues such as COVID-19 as part of their work on pandemics more broadly. Furthermore, business continuity, health and safety, and Defence Medical Services teams across all parts of Defence continue to manage risks from COVID proactively alongside other communicable disease risks to workplaces or operations.

For roles that are predominantly focussed on COVID-19, there are currently five personnel working in the Department - one on policy, two supporting the Public Inquiry, and two involved in logistics and distribution of COVID-19 related supplies (including Lateral Flow Testing Kits to Defence personnel overseas when deployments or Host Nations require them).