Northern Ireland Office: Defence
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.
Answered by Hilary Benn
Officials from the Northern Ireland Office regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and the public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.
The Northern Ireland Office is actively supporting this work across a number of directorates including discussions with defence industry representatives, businesses and academia to better understand the contribution of the defence sector in Northern Ireland. This work is led by the Director for Security, International and NI Politics, and the Director for Growth, Public Service Transformation and NI Fiscal Sustainability.
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