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Economic Growth and Regional Planning and Development

Question for Ministry of Defence

UIN 61049, tabled on 11 October 2022

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to prioritise national economic growth and levelling up.

Answered on

18 October 2022

With a significant footprint across the UK and procurement pipeline, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is well placed to contribute to economic growth and Levelling Up (LU).

The MOD spent £20.5 billion with industry and commerce in FY2020-21. In turn, this encourages private sector investment and creates high skilled jobs - 219,000 across the UK (equivalent to one in every 120 jobs) and an additional 78,000 indirectly supported by MOD expenditure.

Several MOD commitments support LU with our main focus on Research and Development (R&D), not least through the implementation of our Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS).

We have taken steps to expand Dstl's regional footprint by opening a Science and Technology Experimentation Hub specialising in AI and data science in Newcastle in March 2022, with other regional hubs under exploration.

We are increasing the proportion of Extra Mural Research contracts placed outside the Greater South East (GSE) area.

Following initial launch in the South West, our Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) continues to support the development of Regional Defence and Security Clusters (RDSCs) which offer an accessible route for SMEs to build relationships with regionally based MOD Strategic Suppliers to develop new industrial capability and enter the Defence market.

MOD has already invested £1 billion in the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) Technology Initiative (with a further £1 billion planned) which is supporting regional hubs to develop advanced manufacturing technologies.