Question to the Ministry of Defence:

What recent discussions he has had with the National Security Adviser on the current and future intensity of the threat environment.

As the House is aware, the Ministry of Defence is currently conducting the Modernising Defence Programme.

I meet the National Security Adviser on a regular basis to discuss key issues including Russia’s increasingly destabilising behaviour, conflict and tension in Syria and the wider Middle East, the spread of violent extremism and organised crime in ungoverned spaces, and the situation on the Korean peninsula.

The Modernising Defence Programme will take all of this into account as we determine what capabilities and policies we need to meet the threats we face.