Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

With reference to page 65 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what seed grants he plans to use to fund the UK Defence Innovation Rapid Innovation Unit.

UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) will continue invest in structures to support business growth and to increase investment into SMEs, start-ups, and non-traditional defence and security suppliers to support a diverse and agile supply chain and ensure delivery of pioneering capability to national security and defence. The UKDI - Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI_DASA) is a Special Partner in the delivery of The Defence and Security (D&S) Seed Fund portfolio, which is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and sits within UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S). UKI2S is a Pre seed and Seed fund for defence and Security SMEs with investment from MOD for SME innovation looking for private equity funding. The UKDI - Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI_DASA) supported by Innovate UK Loans Ltd (Innovate UK) delivers a Defence funding competition: the Defence Innovation Loan. This service provides an opportunity for single Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with solutions to defence themed problems to apply for a Defence Innovation Loan of between £100,000 and £1 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum

With reference to page 23 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, what the scope is of the Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme.

The Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme (DSCCP) is a multi-year transformation programme aimed at building resilient, agile, and collaborative supply chains underpinning both national security and economic growth. It is a central delivery vehicle for the Defence Industrial Strategy and the Strategic Defence Review, aligning priorities to safeguard operational and UK sovereignty, industry and warfighting readiness; embedding resilience, and a more transparent, innovative partnership with industry. The programme is shifting from reactive to proactive supply chain risk management, underpinned by digital innovation. Capabilities including scenario modelling and supply architecture will help anticipate disruptions and assess operational impact. Early industry involvement in capability development—through the Defence Joint Industrial Council—will strengthen collaboration, by providing industry with much more visibility of Ministry of Defence future plans.

With reference to page 28 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, when he plans to publish the first Modern Industrial Strategy update.

We are working at pace in partnership with business to deliver our modern Industrial Strategy, to increase investment and grow the economy. We have now published all eight Sector Plans, co-developed with industry, as well as the first Industrial Strategy Quarterly Update: Industrial Strategy quarterly update: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK. The Quarterly Update sets out how we are delivering on our commitments in the Industrial Strategy and reports on the key economic indicators for our high-growth sectors, as well as delivery milestones and major investment commitments.

With reference to page 47 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his planned timeline is for delivering the Defence Skills Framework.

Defence is progressing the implementation of the Pan Defence Skills Framework (PDSF), which is the Defence Skills Framework referenced in the 2025 Defence Industrial Strategy. The PDSF represents a transformative shift in how Defence understands, develops and deploys skills across both military and civilian workforces, supporting Defence’s ambition to become a more agile, skills-based organisation. Programme governance is in place and Tranche 1 of activity is underway. The onboarding of the single Services and the Civil Service (those under the pre-Defence Reform structure of MOD Main) is scheduled to begin from December 2025, in a phased rollout. Initial implementation has already seen: The first trial cohort for Engineering (Army, Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy (RN)) onboarded, with the enablement of the Skills-Based Supplement, which went live on 22 April 2025. The Skills Based Supplement trial is informing a new flexible and targeted approach to remuneration that aligns with Defence's transition to a Skills-Based Organisation. This trial provides 3,200 engineering service personnel with payments of up to £2,700, which will help Defence evaluate wider implementation of skills-based rewards to enhance retention in highly demanded skills across the Armed Forces.The RN and RAF onboarded their first cross-skill area cohort for the Digital, Data and Technology (DDAT) profession on 13 October 2025. Mass onboarding is expected to follow:The RN and RAF are preparing to begin broader onboarding from December 2025.The Army is expected to follow in early 2026, with onboarding phased by rank.MOD Main civil service onboarding is anticipated to commence from February/March 2026. Looking ahead, Tranche 2 will expand PDSF to cover additional skills, onboarding of Arms-Length Bodies, and refine the underpinning technology. This will ensure Defence has the agility to align skills with future workforce demands, evolving technology, and the challenges of a rapidly changing security environment.

How many and what proportion of his Department's suppliers are registered on the central procurement platform.

The Department has a total of 20,690 active unique suppliers with live contracts The Department has a total of 131,172 unique suppliers.

With reference to page 65 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, from where the UK Defence Innovation Rapid Innovation Unit will access below market rate loans.

UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) will continue invest in structures to support business growth and to increase investment into SMEs, start-ups, and non-traditional defence and security suppliers to support a diverse and agile supply chain and ensure delivery of pioneering capability to national security and defence. The UKDI - Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI_DASA) is a Special Partner in the delivery of The Defence and Security (D&S) Seed Fund portfolio, which is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and sits within UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S). UKI2S is a Pre seed and Seed fund for defence and Security SMEs with investment from MOD for SME innovation looking for private equity funding. The UKDI - Defence and Security Accelerator (UKDI_DASA) supported by Innovate UK Loans Ltd (Innovate UK) delivers a Defence funding competition: the Defence Innovation Loan. This service provides an opportunity for single Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with solutions to defence themed problems to apply for a Defence Innovation Loan of between £100,000 and £1 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 44144 on Armed Forces: Training, what recent steps his Department has taken to help improve the 11 Royal School of Signals Regiment’s OFSTED rating to Outstanding.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring the highest standards of training and welfare across all its establishments, including 11 Royal School of Signals Regiment and its efforts to achieve an Outstanding Ofsted rating In June 2025, 22 Group of the RAF conducted a Second Party Training Quality Audit (SPTQA) at 11 Royal School of Signals Regiment. The audit reviewed training compliance with JSP 822 and included a Welfare and Duty of Care survey in preparation for any potential Ofsted Third Party Assurance (3PA) inspection. The report found the Regiment to be performing well, identifying only four minor non-conformities and one observation, which are being addressed to ensure full compliance. A follow-up review is scheduled for December 2025 at the six-month point to assess progress against the identified areas for improvement. This review will be conducted by 22 Group to ensure continued progress and readiness for any future Ofsted inspections.

With reference to page 23 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, how the members of the Defence Industrial Joint Council are selected.

Membership of the Ministerially chaired council comprises a diverse group of defence sector partners, including SMEs, primes, tech, investors, trade associations, academia and Trade Unions. This signals a significant step in establishing the MOD’s new approach to partnerships; one focused on collaboration across the breadth of the UK’s defence ecosystem. All members of the DIJC have been appointed, via HMG’s Public Appointments Process, based on the expertise and insight they bring. Spaces allocated to different sector groups have, through necessity, been limited to ensure a Council with a diverse membership from across the defence landscape and of a suitable size to drive pace and support delivery of the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). All appointments to the DIJC top Council are made for an initial period of 12 months after which they will be reviewed, ensuring a principle of rotation is built into the membership and to provide opportunities for new organisations to participate.

With reference to page 52 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what progress he has made on implementing a bespoke commercial pathway for SMEs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a crucial place in UK defence. They are the backbone of the UK economy and are vital to delivering the innovation, expertise and agility that we need now and in the future. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy, as well as the Department’s Social Value policy. We work with our largest suppliers through a network of their SME Champions, trade associations and SME representatives to ensure that smaller companies have access to opportunities in our supply chain and that our prime contractors are adopting policies, such as fair payment practices, that support small businesses working in defence. We are also introducing a new SME Commercial Pathway as part of our broader acquisition transformation. Through this pathway, Defence will increase the number of opportunities for SMEs, and make our contracting processes simpler, less onerous and faster. This Government has already announced an ambitious but achievable target to spend £7.5 billion with SMEs by 2028 which will see direct spend increase by approximately £700 million during the next three years, and we will launch a new Office For Small Business Growth to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK, continue to lead the way in developing the world-beating technologies and services that we will need.

With reference to page 48 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his Department's planned timetable is for broadening the range of employers it supports through the Jobs and Careers Service.

The Department for Work and Pensions through the new Jobs and Careers Service is taking steps to broaden its support for employers by engaging over 8,000 strategic and local businesses, tailoring services to regional labour market needs, and collaborating with trade bodies and Government Departments to deliver inclusive recruitment campaigns, sector-specific training, and modernised job-matching tools. This is as a result of the Get Britain Working White Paper published in November 2024.

With reference to page 55 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his planned timetable is for including the Office of Defence Exports within the GREAT campaign.

Defence is one of the key growth sectors identified by this government, and the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign (GREAT) has renewed its efforts to support defence exports. GREAT coordinates activities enabling government departments and overseas posts to deliver integrated local campaigns boosting British defence exports globally.

With reference to page 30 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to launch the consultation on the UK offsets regime.

The offsets consultation was launched on 23 October 2025.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national standard offering for glaucoma testing.

Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet them, which could include glaucoma referral filtering services.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the diagnosis and management of glaucoma, reference code NG81, recommends that people planning eye care services should consider commissioning referral filtering services, for example, repeat measures, enhanced case-finding, or referral refinement, for chronic open angle glaucoma and related conditions. This guideline is available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng81The Getting It Right First Time programme is currently developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services to support the adoption of high standards across the pathway, from detection onwards.

With reference to page 46 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what progress has he made on establishing a Defence Universities Alliance.

The Defence Universities Alliance (DUA) will form a more strategic relationship between defence and the Higher Education sector to support national security and UK growth, building on existing collaborative relationships between the sectors. The Ministry of Defence is currently engaging with Universities UK and the UK’s Higher Education Sector to develop the DUA. There have been a number of workshops with Vice Chancellors of various Universities in the week commencing 21 October which have developed our understanding of the DUA. Further details will be published in due course.

With reference to page 42 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, last updated on 18 September 2025, what are the existing financing options available for the defence sector.

The UK defence sector has several existing options aimed at supporting innovation, resilience and growth across supply chains. Government options include the National Wealth Fund, the British Business Bank and National Security Strategic Investment Fund. As part of the Defence Investors Advisory Group and the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy Ministry of Defence will work with these entities and as well as wider investment and finance community to find further opportunities for the Defence sector and how barriers to investment in defence can be removed while making the sector more attractive for private investment, including venture capital, private equity and pension funds.

With reference to page 50 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, when he plans to establish an offsets model to help attract inward investment.

The Defence Industrial Strategy set out measures to generate greater value from the Ministry of Defence’s procurement spend to boost UK investment, growth and employment making defence an engine for growth. We have launched an offsets consultation on 23 October. It runs for 12 weeks.

With reference to page 54 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his planned timetable is for identifying a pipeline of projects for the next five to ten years that may be eligible.

It is too early at this time to identify a pipeline of projects over the next five to ten years that may utilise the new planning routes. Ministry of Defence (MOD) Officials are currently drafting updated procedures to enable the use of these new routes. The intent is this guidance will be incorporated into MOD procedure by April 2026.

With reference to page 51 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, which experts he plans to consult as part of the review and test of options for a new offsets regime.

The Defence Industrial Strategy set out measures to generate greater value from the Ministry of Defence’s procurement spend to boost UK investment, growth and employment making defence an engine for growth. An offset policy is being explored as a means to achieve this which will include consultations with expert stakeholders from across the UK defence industrial base including suppliers of all sizes, the Trade Associations, the Trade Unions, Think Tanks and academic institutions. Consultations will also include international suppliers and our key allies and partners.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2025 to Question 75426 on James Scott Rhys Anderson, what the outcome was of the discussion between the Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy on 24 July 2025.

I thank the Hon Member for his close interest in this important case and I refer him to answer 75426. I will keep him and other Members informed as and when there are further developments.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2025 to Question 75426 on James Scott Rhys Anderson, on what dates his Department raised James Scott Rhys Anderson with the Russian authorities.

I thank the Hon Member for his close interest in this important case and I refer him to answer 75426. I will keep him and other Members informed as and when there are further developments.