Written questions by Cartlidge.

With reference to page 53 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer, published on 2 June 2025, whether any new funding models to help make defence innovators more attractive for investment have been created since 2 June 2025.

The publication of the Strategic Defence Review and uplift in defence spending signals an ambition to position defence as an engine for growth. In support of this the Department has committed to launch a financial services strategy which will explore how to make defence innovators a more attractive proposition for private capital. In parallel, the Defence and Economic Growth Taskforce is building a new partnership with the UK’s outstanding defence industry, with innovators and with investors. On 1 July UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) launched to signal a transformation of how the Ministry of Defence approaches innovation. The Ministry of Defence will continue to explore new sources of funding to make defence innovators a more attractive proposition for private capital.

With reference to recommendation 26 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on developing an understanding of the armed forces among young people in schools since 2 June 2025.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the importance of the Department for Education (DfE) in increasing understanding and appreciation of our Armed Forces in young people. Ministers and officials from the MOD have met with colleagues in the DfE and discussed how a formal curriculum could be part of their ongoing curriculum review. Both departments have also discussed the vital work of Cadet Forces in schools, membership of which is proven to help develop self-confidence, teamwork, leadership and resilience in young people. Our ongoing discussions with the DfE are crucial to implementing the Cadet ‘30 in 30’ scheme under which this Government is investing £70 million to add 40,000 new Cadets across the UK by 2030.The Strategic Defence Review is clear on the need for a whole of society approach to defence and the ongoing relationship between the MOD and the DfE is a key component of that plan. The Armed Forces enjoy good relationships with schools, primarily in terms of engagement to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) curriculum areas but this also extends to careers engagement. The Armed Forces only visit when they have been invited by a school to support activities and such visits cover a range of activities such as career events, citizenship talks, science and maths challenges and exercises.Regarding the recruitment of young people, it is important to note that the Armed Forces do not target recruitment activity at under-16s, and no visits to schools by the Armed Forces are directly linked to recruitment, other than specific Careers/Jobs Fairs which generally involve a range of employers. While presentations may be given highlighting the careers available in the Armed Forces, no pupil is ever signed up or able to make a commitment to become a recruit in the Armed Forces during the course of a visit.

With reference to page 122 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published in June 2025, how many new staff will be employed as part of the Spectrum Coordination Office.

The Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (DCEMF) remains in internal planning and design stages, with options presented to Defence but not yet endorsed by Military Strategic Headquarters. Resource and capability decisions are subject to the Defence annual planning cycle and the Defence Investment Plan, which will ultimately shape the design of the DCEMF and the speed, scale, and nature of implementation. Until these processes are complete, details such as basing, costs, and workforce mix remain undecided and would be speculative.

With reference to page 79 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, whether he has a target date for forming a dedicated training programme for international defence engagement.

A training programme has been in place since the formation of the Defence Attaché & Loan Service Centre in 2016, preparing personnel to deploy into International Defence Engagement Roles across the world. Following the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, an internal review aiming to establish a Defence Diplomacy Career Stream is underway to further professionalise our people, which will include an examination of training provision. Until this review is complete, a target date for changes to the training pathway cannot be set.

With reference to page 123 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, updated on 8 July 2025, what proportion of the MOD policy teams formed as part of the CyberEM command will be staffed by (a) military and (b) civilian personnel.

The Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (DCEMF) remains in internal planning and design stages, with options presented to Defence but not yet endorsed by Military Strategic Headquarters. Resource and capability decisions are subject to the Defence annual planning cycle and the Defence Investment Plan, which will ultimately shape the design of the DCEMF and the speed, scale, and nature of implementation. I hope that the Hon. Gentleman will understand that until these processes are complete, details such as basing, costs, and workforce mix remain undecided and would be speculative.

With reference to paragraph 31 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, what the total cost to the public purse is for establishing the new CyberEM Command.

The Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (DCEMF) remains in internal planning and design stages, with options presented to Defence but not yet endorsed by Military Strategic Headquarters. Resource and capability decisions are subject to the Defence annual planning cycle and the Defence Investment Plan, which will ultimately shape the design of the DCEMF and the speed, scale, and nature of implementation. I hope that the Hon. Gentleman will understand that until these processes are complete, details such as basing, costs, and workforce mix remain undecided and would be speculative.

With reference to page 48 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, where the Digital Warfighter group will be based.

Our planning assumption is that the Digital Warfighter Group will be federated with the military commands. Hence the Group would be formed of multiple operational units, distributed across the UK.

With reference to recommendation 15 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, what recent progress his Department has made on tackling (a) structural, (b) behavioural and (c) leadership barriers to the creation of a more (i) representative and (ii) meritocratic workforce.

Raising our Standards has been established by Defence to address structural, behavioural, and leadership barriers. This work is key to operational delivery, recruitment, retention and driving forward an inclusive and safe culture. Raising our Standards has planned initiatives under five pillars: communications and influencing behaviour change, data and analytics, 100% action when tackling unacceptable behaviours, streamlined education and training, and developing world-class leaders. In response to recommendation 15 of the Strategic Defence Review regarding independent oversight of implementation, Raising our Standards is working to implement a refreshed External Challenge Panel by October 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department selected 12 January 2025 as the deadline for the started but not submitted applicant group for the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

When farmers started an application and saved without submitting, they were shown a message that said "Your application will be available for 2 months for you to continue. If you have not submitted your application by then, we will delete it". This is why applicants who started an application before 12 January 2025 were not eligible for the reopened SFI as they had exceeded that 2 months.

With reference to recommendation 26 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, what discussions his Department has held with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on plans to expand community-based Cadet Forces by 30% by 2030.

The campaign to increase the Cadet Forces by 30% by 2030 (’30 by 30’) is backed by £70 million of extra funding. The diverse and unique nature of the individual Cadet Forces and the federated approach to delivery mean that this funding will be spread across the single Services, Ministry of Defence (MOD) Centre, and supporting organisations. Work is currently underway to establish how the 30% increase will be realised, and costings will be refined through the ongoing Defence Investment Plan process. The recommendation of the Strategic Defence Review covers both school and community-based Cadet Forces across the country. For a number of years, one focus for Cadet growth has been through the ongoing joint Department for Education (DfE)/MOD Cadet Expansion Programme (CEP) in schools. The CEP will form a key component of the new ‘30 by 30’ campaign, and our important engagement with DfE on the delivery of this discreet element will continue. We wish to grow Cadets in areas where the need is greatest. The MOD and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) are working together to achieve this aim. In addition to our ’30 by 30’ campaign, MOD future growth plans will be aligned with areas with the highest deprivation levels and the weakest social infrastructure, including MHCLG’s Plan for Neighbourhoods programme places.

With reference to recommendation 25 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, whether any senior appointments who have not completed at least one international posting will be required to do so.

With our through-life career management, we can ensure our people have a broad profile to meet the wide and varied demands Defence requires.All of our senior appointments are selected using the joint assured model to ensure Defence has the right people in the roles at the right time. This method ensures that we are always able to select the very best individual for the role.

With reference to recommendation 25 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, whether it will be a formal requirement for all senior appointments to have completed at least one international posting.

With our through-life career management, we can ensure our people have a broad profile to meet the wide and varied demands Defence requires.All of our senior appointments are selected using the joint assured model to ensure Defence has the right people in the roles at the right time. This method ensures that we are always able to select the very best individual for the role.

With reference to page 122 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published in June 2025, what the total cost to his Department was of establishing the Spectrum Coordination Office.

The Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (DCEMF) remains in internal planning and design stages, with options presented to Defence but not yet endorsed by Military Strategic Headquarters. Resource and capability decisions are subject to the Defence annual planning cycle and the Defence Investment Plan, which will ultimately shape the design of the DCEMF and the speed, scale, and nature of implementation. I hope that the Hon. Gentleman will understand that until these processes are complete, details such as basing, costs, and workforce mix remain undecided and would be speculative.

With reference to recommendation 55 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, update on 8 July 2025, whether he has had discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) officials from other departments to discuss the possibility of a Government-wide review of handling processes for intelligence material.

Defence continues to work with the Cabinet Office and partners across government on the future of intelligence handling material as part of several continuing workstreams. This remains a key component of delivering the SDR vision.

What steps he is taking to promote the UK sugar beet industry in international trade negotiations.

This Government recognises the importance of the UK sugar beet industry. In all our trade negotiations we seek to open up new markets for British agricultural, food and drink exports, including UK-produced sugars.The UK is also an active member of the International Sugar Organization, a body that facilitates global dialogue on sugar trade, production and sustainability.

With reference to recommendation 21 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, whether the new Defence Diplomacy Strategy will be developed in conjunction with other departments.

With the backdrop of the challenging global environment outlined in the Strategic Defence Review and the National Security Strategy, the Ministry of Defence is developing a new Defence Diplomacy Strategy, in coordination and consultation with other Government Departments. The Defence Diplomacy Strategy will prioritise the use of the Defence instrument in support of UK defence and wider foreign policy objectives. It will ensure that we are taking a coordinated, strategic and deliberate approach to protect and promote UK interests and enhance UK influence.This work is being led by the Minister of State for the House of Lords who is responsible for international relations and defence diplomacy.

With reference to recommendation 21 of the Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad, published on 2 June 2025, who will lead on the new Defence Diplomacy Strategy.

With the backdrop of the challenging global environment outlined in the Strategic Defence Review and the National Security Strategy, the Ministry of Defence is developing a new Defence Diplomacy Strategy, in coordination and consultation with other Government Departments. The Defence Diplomacy Strategy will prioritise the use of the Defence instrument in support of UK defence and wider foreign policy objectives. It will ensure that we are taking a coordinated, strategic and deliberate approach to protect and promote UK interests and enhance UK influence.This work is being led by the Minister of State for the House of Lords who is responsible for international relations and defence diplomacy.

With reference to clause 31 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, when he expects the Cabinet sub-Committee on Space to be established.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 July 2025 to Question 68516 to the right hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Neil Shastri -Hurst), where I stated ‘I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s interest in space. The Ministry of Defence along with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and other departments, is coordinating space activities across government. Ministers from across government met on the 22 April to discuss space and, since the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, Ministers met on 7 July to follow up on our approach to space. We remain committed to establishing and evolving the right space governance structure to ensure that activities are effectively coordinated across all relevant Departments.’

With reference to clause 31 of the Strategic Defence Review - Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad published on 2 June 2025, if he will list the membership of the Cabinet sub-Committee on Space.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 July 2025 to Question 68516 to the right hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Neil Shastri -Hurst), where I stated ‘I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s interest in space. The Ministry of Defence along with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and other departments, is coordinating space activities across government. Ministers from across government met on the 22 April to discuss space and, since the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, Ministers met on 7 July to follow up on our approach to space. We remain committed to establishing and evolving the right space governance structure to ensure that activities are effectively coordinated across all relevant Departments.’

With reference paragraph 31 on page 21 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, which Department will lead the Cabinet sub-Committee on space.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 July 2025 to Question 68516 to the right hon. Member for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Neil Shastri -Hurst), where I stated ‘I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s interest in space. The Ministry of Defence along with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and other departments, is coordinating space activities across government. Ministers from across government met on the 22 April to discuss space and, since the publication of the Strategic Defence Review, Ministers met on 7 July to follow up on our approach to space. We remain committed to establishing and evolving the right space governance structure to ensure that activities are effectively coordinated across all relevant Departments.’