Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve sovereign defence capability.

We have increased defence spending, we are backing British companies, and we are investing in skills and young people.

The £182 million defence industry skills package, launched alongside the Defence Industrial Strategy, encompasses a range of initiatives targeting people at all stages of the career pipeline, including young people. As part of this we have created seven Defence Technical Excellence Colleges (DTECs). One of these DTECs is in the hon. Member’s constituency and I visited this recently.