Stuart Anderson MP has called for fast-moving technologies to be put "front and centre" of government investment in defence infrasructure. It follows a fact-finding mission to America with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Stuart made the intervention in the House of Commons on 8th September 2025. It was part of a statement on the Defence Industrial Strategy, the publication of which had been delayed by several months.
In a Statement of Intent published in December 2024, Ministers had stated: "The Defence Industrial Strategy will be developed at pace... and will be published in late Spring 2025."
In Parliament, Stuart Anderson MP said:
I have just returned from the US with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, where we reviewed disruptive technology from AI to quantum and saw how it has a chance to change the defence industrial base. What consideration of that fast-moving technology is there in this defence industrial strategy?
However, the plans for investment were only published on 8th September 2025 - months later than promised. In response to Stuart's question, Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Luke Pollard MP said:
The £400 million that we have allocated to UK Defence Innovation is intended to champion those disruptive high-end technologies, but we have also been clear that we want to spend 10% of our equipment budget on those advanced pieces of technology. We also need to support the wider R&D ecosystem that supports those technologies, which is why we also make announcements in the strategy about supporting our university and research partnerships that deliver them. Certainly, with US projects relying in many cases on British technology, there is a really strong ecosystem for learning the lessons from Ukraine and maintaining a technological edge. There are real opportunities for UK businesses to do more, and the more links we have with our US friends on those advanced technologies and R&D, the better.
Stuart has welcomed the investment in novel technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence. However, he has urged Ministers to create more opportunities for small businesses in public procurement.
Ahead of his intervention, Stuart had responded to a government consultation on public procurement which is aimed at "strengthening British industry, creating jobs, and enhancing skills."
The public sector spends more than £400 billion each year on goods and services. However, research from the British Chamber of Commerce has found that SMEs receive only 5% of the total that the Ministry of Defence spends on public procurement.
Despite being one of the biggest public procurement organisations in Europe, the Ministry of Defence invested £547 million in SMEs in 2024. Across government, SMEs receive only 20% of overall procurement spending.
This equates to £31,000 median spend per SME. It has remained stuck at this level for six years. Only 130,000 out of almost five million SMEs supply direct to government, according to the British Chamber of Commerce SME Procurement Tracker.
The consultation, which was open until 5th September 2025, builds on the Procurement Act 2023. Stuart has added that signing the Armed Forces Covenant should be an award criterion within public sector procurement.
In his response, Stuart said that the Covenant should be included in the Social Value Model - which encourages tenderers to demonstrate that their proposals deliver social benefits.
Stuart has said that doing so would recognise the significant benefits that these businesses already create for the Armed Forces, including our veterans.
Indeed, Covenant signatories have already made a range of written and publicised promises to set out their support for the Armed Forces. Stuart has recently called on more organisations in South Shropshire to do so.
South Shropshire is home to 5,785 small businesses. This represents 99.8% of all businesses. The area also has a high rate of self-employment compared to the national average.
Meanwhile, South Shropshire is home to over 4,000 veterans. This represents almost one in ten households in the constituency.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"The public sector spends more than £400 billion each year on goods and services. However, research from the British Chamber of Commerce has found that SMEs receive only a fraction of this amount. At the Ministry of Defence, for example, the figure stands at just 5% of expenditure. To address this problem, I believe that signing the Armed Forces Covenant should be better recognised within public sector procurement. This is part of my campaign to ensure that South Shropshire can become the best place to be a veteran, where each veteran is recognised for their contribution and supported in civilian life. The Armed Forces Covenant acknowledges the huge sacrifices and the debt of gratitude owed to those who have served our country. Better recognition of signatories in public procurement would boost our defence science, innovation, and manufacturing sectors which already support over 200,000 jobs across the UK."
