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What fiscal steps she is taking to support the Defence Investment Plan.
What fiscal steps she is taking to support the Defence Investment Plan.
I am pleased to update the House that I met the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff yesterday to talk through the defence investment plan. The Ministry of Defence is producing a defence investment plan that will meet the scale of the challenges and meet the moment with increased readiness. I am confident that the new defence investment plan will be published before the NATO Ankara summit. It will involve more money spent more effectively and will meet the scale of the challenges facing our country.
The former Defence Secretary has blown apart the defence investment plan, revealing that the Treasury was prepared to offer only a pitiful increase in defence spending—just 0.08% by 2030—despite growing threats across the world. At the same time, the Treasury continues to fork out billions for welfare and the net zero agenda. Innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in defence are effectively locked out of MOD contracts and denied the opportunity to scale their capabilities. As the Chief of the Defence Staff put it,
“the price of peace is increasing”.
Will the Chancellor commit this morning to filling the £28 billion gap in defence investment by 2030 to secure our position on the world stage, or will she stand in the way of the delivery of the DIP that we need?
The former Defence Secretary has blown apart the defence investment plan, revealing that the Treasury was prepared to offer only a pitiful increase in defence spending—just 0.08% by 2030—despite growing threats across the world. At the same time, the Treasury continues to fork out billions for welfare and the net zero agenda. Innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in defence are effectively locked out of MOD contracts and denied the opportunity to scale their capabilities. As the Chief of the Defence Staff put it,
“the price of peace is increasing”.
Will the Chancellor commit this morning to filling the £28 billion gap in defence investment by 2030 to secure our position on the world stage, or will she stand in the way of the delivery of the DIP that we need?
As I just said, the DIP will be published before the summit. It will involve more money spent more effectively, and it will meet the scale of the challenges we face. Frankly, I will take no lectures from the Conservatives, who left our armed forces, in the words of their former Defence Secretary, “hollowed out”. Our forces hit rock bottom for pay, morale and numbers. The Tories do not like to mention the £12 billion of cuts that they made to defence in their first five years in office. We are turning that around with the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war. This Labour Government will continue to invest in defence, with contracts awarded to firms here in Britain to keep our country safe.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of contracts signed by his Department since July 2024 are with Small and Medium Enterprises.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of contracts signed by his Department since July 2024 are with Small and Medium Enterprises.
The number and value of new contracts let by Ministry of Defence (MOD) each year, including specifically with Small Medium-Sized Enterprises, is published annually as part of the MOD Trade, Industry and Contracts: 2025 report. In Financial Year 2024-25, the last year for which data is available, the MOD placed 2,398 new contracts, of which 559 (approximately 23%) were with SMEs with a collective value of £876 million.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Defence and Security Accelerator.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Defence and Security Accelerator.
UK Defence Innovation Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI-DASA) does not track constituency level data but does track data regionally. There have been 237 UKDI-DASA funded projects in the South West totalling £51.2 million, 169 of those were awarded to Small and Medium Enterprises.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Exploration Fund.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Exploration Fund.
Funding from the Exploration Fund (ExF) is allocated internally to projects within the Ministry of Defence, some of which may include provisions for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs cannot apply directly for funding from the ExF. Constituency-specific data for the EfX is not maintained.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Defence Innovation Fund.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many defence SMEs in South West Devon constituency have a) applied for and b) received funding from the Defence Innovation Fund.
Funding from the Defence Innovation Fund (DiF) is allocated internally to projects within the Ministry of Defence, some of which may include provisions for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs cannot apply directly for funding from the DiF. Constituency-specific data for the DiF is not maintained.
The Minister rightly promotes our world-class maritime sector in the south-west, where considerable private investment is being made, including a new resilience factory opening in my constituency next week. Such innovative young companies live or die on the pace of Government contracting, but we continue to wait for the latest defence investment plan. How will the Minister reassure the new tech companies in my constituency that the pace of their private investments is matched by the urgency of MOD contracting to ensure that economic growth through defence becomes a reality?
The Minister rightly promotes our world-class maritime sector in the south-west, where considerable private investment is being made, including a new resilience factory opening in my constituency next week. Such innovative young companies live or die on the pace of Government contracting, but we continue to wait for the latest defence investment plan. How will the Minister reassure the new tech companies in my constituency that the pace of their private investments is matched by the urgency of MOD contracting to ensure that economic growth through defence becomes a reality?
I thank my constituency neighbour for raising issues involving the south-west. I am actually opening that factory in the hon. Member’s constituency next week, and I look forward to seeing her there to make the case further for it. The defence investment plan, which will be published later this year, will set out what we are spending our money on. Let us be very clear: we are delivering the strategic defence review, and we are piling more energy and more of the money that we have been allocated from the Treasury into British businesses. I want to see more SMEs benefit from that, and in that respect we are delivering the defence industrial strategy at pace, but I am very happy to discuss that further with her.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department will use to determine the locations of new Defence Technical Colleges of Excellence.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department will use to determine the locations of new Defence Technical Colleges of Excellence.
A £182 million defence skills package was announced at the start of September in the Defence Industrial Strategy. This aims to make defence an engine for national renewal and economic growth, harnessing the skills needed for the future, from submarine engineers to specialist welders. The package centres on establishing five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges (DTECs), training people in the skills needed to secure new defence jobs in this growing industry.
Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. The selection process for these DTECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Further details will be published in due course.
When he plans to publish the defence investment plan.
When he plans to publish the defence investment plan.
The Defence Investment Plan will be published this Autumn. For the very first time the Ministry of Defence’s Plan 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 British defence company Babcock employs over 2,000 people from my constituency. The long-awaited strategic defence review is due any day now, so will the Secretary of State set out how the Government will do more to prioritise British defence jobs, and British firms that will not only provide training and employment opportunities in the UK, but help to develop the vital sovereign capability that has never been more critical for our national security?
The British defence company Babcock employs over 2,000 people from my constituency. The long-awaited strategic defence review is due any day now, so will the Secretary of State set out how the Government will do more to prioritise British defence jobs, and British firms that will not only provide training and employment opportunities in the UK, but help to develop the vital sovereign capability that has never been more critical for our national security?
We will indeed. We will set out in our defence industrial strategy the detail that the hon. Lady wants. She mentions Babcock, which has welcomed today’s UK-EU agreement as a step forward, describing it as strengthening the critical defence partnership between the EU and the UK in uncertain times. I am sure that she will welcome that as well.