asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will finalise a transparency policy under the defence industrial strategy; and[HL705]

What implications they anticipate the delay in producing the second version of the Defence Industrial Strategy will have for the Ministry of Defence's commercial relationships with industry, and in particular small and medium enterprises, and the maintenance of sovereign capabilities in sectors identified as necessary in the first industrial strategy. [HL706]

The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) remains the basis of our relationship with industry. We are driving forward with its implementation, not least through the development of an updated strategy. In doing so, we continue to work to maintain those sovereign capabilities identified in DIS, and to provide further clarity in a number of areas, such as setting out the detail of our transparency policy and our approach to supply networks including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Further, we are developing a package of measures to ensure that SMEs are not disadvantaged in their dealings with the Ministry of Defence, and will implement these measures in advance of the publication of the updated DIS where appropriate. Therefore, we do not anticipate that the change in publication date will fundamentally impact on our commercial relationships with industry.