Every parliamentary written question tabled by Ben Obese-Jecty this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1,061–1,080 of 2,240 · Ministry of Defence
Pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2025 to Question 76411 on Ajax Vehicles, if he will publish the findings of the assessment programme for the use of the ARES variant of Ajax for mounted close combat.
I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand that I am withholding the details of the assessment programme findings, as its disclosure would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.
With reference to page 76 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to introduce a supplier resilience maturity assessment (a) framework and (b) tool.
The Ministry of Defence plans to introduce a supplier resilience maturity assessment framework and tool as part of the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP). This will be a phased approach involving piloting and testing in a live environment during the remainder of financial year 2025/26, with full implementation commencing in April 2026. The framework—developed as part of a suite of proactive risk management mechanisms - and piloted with industry—enables structured assessment across twelve resilience domains, covering leadership, people, place, and operations, with sixty criteria in total. It is designed for use at both organisational and programme levels and supports MOD-led, supplier-led, or joint assessments. The accompanying tool provides both qualitative and quantitative scoring and visualisation. Final recommendations for implementation are expected following the pilot phase, which is currently underway.
With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to launch a Regulatory Solutions Hub.
The Regulatory Solutions Hub is expected to be launched in 2026.
What recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Energy and Capability Resilience Centre of Excellence.
The Defence Energy and Capability Resilience Centre of Excellence (DECX) will be established from the start of the next financial year.
With reference to page 76 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme.
The Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP) is a review of Defence supply chain capabilities that will deliver a step-change improvement in how Defence understands, designs and manages the MOD’s industrial ecosystem to deliver benefits throughout the end-to-end supply chain. The DSCCP was established as a programme in September 2024, following a period of discovery and design it is now in year two of delivery. It is delivering a suite of end-to-end supply chain capabilities, covering; risk modelling, supplier management, supply chain architecture, resilience policy, and scenario planning.
With reference to page 75 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, if he will make an assessment of the lessons learned from the first joint wargame undertaken by his Department with industry.
Wargaming, such as the December 2024 Industry Wargame, helps the Ministry of Defence, industry, and wider society identify and address risks, enhancing operational resilience and ensuring mission continuity in contested environments. The exercise yielded critical insights across multiple areas essential for surging capacity and scaling to full warfighting readiness. Achieving this requires strengthening strategic collaboration with industry and international partners, alongside further developing enablers such as appropriate legislation, financial frameworks, specialist skills development, and digital transformation. Considerable progress is already underway, including work on a Defence Readiness Bill, the formation of a dedicated scenario planning and modelling capability, accelerated digital system upgrades for secure information sharing, and cross-Government efforts to access vital defence skills.
What his planned timetable is for the appointment of the National Armaments Director.
The National Armaments Director (NAD) was appointed on 13 October 2025 and started the role on 14 October 2025. The hon. Gentleman met him on 27 October in the House and I hope he found it useful.
With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent progress he has made in piloting the provision of a high fidelity virtual test range.
As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, our Test and Evaluation Transformation programme is piloting the provision of a high-fidelity virtual test range, focused on the evaluation of UK equipment in the most demanding operational environments. This project will pave the way for the UK Defence enterprise to rapidly test, innovate and integrate systems against the most demanding operational use-cases.Since publication of the Defence Industrial Strategy, the project’s technical approach has been tested through the largest and most ambitious multinational trial ever undertaken on a virtual range of this type. This successfully validated the technical direction of the project and work is underway to establish the facilities needed to expand access to the pilot by the summer of 2026.
How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure was with UK-based businesses in the latest period for which data is available.
In 2024-25, The Ministry of Defence global expenditure with industry (including direct payments to industry, foreign governments and via Foreign Military Sales with the US) was £38 billion. Of this, £32 billion (84%) was for work taking place in the UK.
How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure was with small and medium sized enterprises in the latest period for which data is available.
The information is published annually. The most recent data can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-regional-expenditure-statistics-with-industry-202425/mod-regional-expenditure-with-industry-202425#mod-expenditure-with-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises The latest publicly available figures were released in September 2025 and cover the 2024-25 financial year period. 4% (£1.2 billion) of MOD direct expenditure with UK industry was with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in 2024-25.
With reference to page 75 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to establish a scenario planning capability within the National Armaments Director Group.
The National Armaments Director Group is actively progressing plans to establish a dedicated strategic supply chain scenario planning capability as a core component of its Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP). This initiative will underpin a structured programme of scenario testing exercises—integrating wargaming, simulation, and strategic foresight—to stress-test supply chain resilience and inform defence policy and planning. The capability will be delivered in collaboration with industry and government partners, leveraging our new supply chain illumination capability and aligning with the Defence Experimentation and Wargaming Hub. The capability will work with the wider landscape of existing scenario planning and wargaming activities that already take place within the Ministry of Defence and across government. Early development phases include pilot exercises across three service levels, with a proof-of-concept capability targeted by March 2026.
With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, how much funding his Department plans to provide for more mobile test technologies.
As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, investing in mobile test technologies has the potential to accelerate innovation, particularly amongst smaller companies for whom geographically remote and highly capable test ranges may be prohibitively expensive. The same technology will also help Defence undertake more testing in the field, under operationally representative conditions, contributing towards the industrial, innovation and warfighting readiness ambitions in the Strategic Defence Review. Mobile testing is one aspect of the Department’s Test and Evaluation Transformation programme, which is forecast to spend over £1 million on mobile test technologies this year. The scale of future funding is dependent on the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan.
With reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what recent progress he has made in launching the Range of the Future programme.
To improve the long-term productivity and capacity of both MOD and commercially operated UK test ranges, the Defence Industrial Strategy announced the launching of a ‘Range of the Future’ programme at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. This programme will work with SMEs, range operators and regulators to derisk T&E technology and make ranges more available, affordable, and capable of supporting the next generation of Defence capability A project is underway within DSTL to lead the work to scope out the programme, plan how it will be delivered in partnership with UK industry and identify its priorities and operating model. Whilst the formal programme is developed, DSTL are actively engaging with the UK T&E enterprise, including recently supporting a hackathon for the UK T&E Community of Interest.
When he plans to publish the Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan.
The Defence Reform and Efficiency Plan will be published later this year alongside the Defence Investment Plan. It will set out our plans to deliver relevant recommendations in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review.
What the average procurement cycle time to delivery was in the latest period for which data is available.
The Defence Industrial Strategy set out average times to contract for major projects (such as tanks, frigates and aircraft) of six years, and for pace-setting modular upgrades (such as comms, sensors and weapons upgrades) of three years. We have set targets to reduce these averages to two years and one year respectively, and a target of three-month cycles for rapid commercial exploitation.The introduction of this segmented approach to procurement, with associated timescale targets, is a key element of our acquisition system reforms. This initiative, and our move to a portfolio-driven approach, will drive greater to increase pace and agility in delivery. Our support to Ukraine has shown the pace at which we can deliver.
How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure with industry groups was spent in each region in the latest period for which data is available.
The Ministry of Defence publishes annual statistics on expenditure by region, with the latest publication for the 2024-25 period available GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-regional-expenditure-with-industry-index.
With reference to page 85 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what steps he is taking to improve the demand signal.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is strengthening how it communicates its demand signal to industry through the establishment of a new Market Engagement (ME) Coordinating Authority within the NAD Group. This new authority will set the standard for how the MOD engages with industry during the early ‘options’ phase of the defence capability development cycle. The ME Authority will lead structured, early engagement with suppliers, to help refine the MOD’s requirements ahead of procurement and support the development of capability roadmaps that clearly communicate the Department’s long-term needs.
What information his Department holds on the share of the global defence export market held by UK-based companies.
The UK publishes annual Official Statistics on defence exports. The five-year moving average of UK defence exports orders has shown a trend of modest growth since 2018 and stands at approximately £10 billion. Market intelligence on other countries’ exports is also published. But because Official Statistics and market intelligence use different methodologies, respective results are not comparable. There are publicly available defence export datasets, such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which make their own assessments independent of His Majesty's Government.
How much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure was on research and development in the latest period for which data is available.
The Departments expenditure on Research and Development for the latest period is £19,701,778.03 (exVAT).
What recent progress he has made in establishing the Defence Office for Small Business Growth.
Planning for the new Defence Office for Business Growth is well underway. The operating model has been produced following wide ranging consultation with industry. The Office will provide services to both small businesses and MOD teams, which will focus on growth and shaping the defence industry landscape to develop resilient supply chains. The detail of how the service will operate, including scope and launch date will be released shortly and it is expected that initial operating capability will be achieved in spring 2026.