13 October 2026 - The relationship between the Government and the defence industry - Oral evidence

The Industry and Regulators Committee is concluding its inquiry on the relationship between the Government and the defence industry by hearing from the Secretary of State for Defence, Wes Streeting MP, and Rupert Pearce, the National Armaments Director at the Ministry of Defence. The Committee will question how the Government intends to bring about a new partnership with the defence industry, and how it plans to provide defence companies with enough certainty over future funding to provide the industrial capacity that the UK will rely on in the event of war.

The Committee will consider how defence procurement needs to change to be able to move at the pace of technological change, and how the Government will ensure the defence industry has sufficient capacity to produce consumable material, such as munitions and drones, for a sustained period. This will include examining the extent to which the UK’s defence industry relies on overseas supply chains, and whether the Government needs to go further in weighting defence procurement towards companies that have substantial manufacturing operations in the UK.

Possible topics include:

• How the Government communicates and engages with the defence industry
• How the MoD can move more quickly and take greater risks in defence procurement to meet the pace of technological change
• Whether political direction is needed to change the culture of the MoD from a focus on process towards delivery
• The security of the defence industry from physical and cyber threats