Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Proactively engage with wider society to build consensus on threats to the UK.
Conclusion
At societal level, the Ministry of Defence should draw on its understanding of the threats faced to make a greater impact by proactively engaging far more with wider society, both public and private—for example, critical national industries, schools and communities—to help generate a dialogue around those threats to the UK and build consensus around a common response. (Recommendation, Paragraph 82) 29
Government Response Summary
The government highlights MOD's active engagement with wider government, society, and industry, including its leading role in the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence Programme and the Resilience Action Plan (published July 2025). They also detail actions to increase the visibility of the Armed Forces in society by engaging with schools, expanding Cadet Forces, and inviting company leaders onto Defence courses.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The MOD’s purpose is to protect the nation, leading on defence and the use of the Armed Forces. It is working closely with other Government departments, including playing a leading role in the development of the Cabinet Office-led cross-Government Home Defence Programme, overseen centrally by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. This coordinates civil and military preparations across the whole of Government for some of the most serious risks we could face. This includes communicating, empowering, and engaging with all tiers of resilience actors to ensure all sectors are prepared for, and able to respond to, the most catastrophic of risks. The Government has set out the UK’s strategic approach to resilience in the Resilience Action Plan,6 published on 14 July 2025. This will deliver against three objectives in this Parliament: continuously assessing how resilient the UK is, enabling the whole of society to take action to increase their resilience, and strengthening the core public sector resilience system. 6 UK Government Resilience Action Plan https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk- government-resilience-action-plan The MOD continues to contribute to homeland resilience through the long- established Military Aid to Civil Authorities (MACA) process. Through this, the Armed Forces can, when appropriate, bolster government’s emergency response capacity or capability, acting in support of the lead civil authority or government department to do so. The Strategic Defence Review set out the need for Defence Readiness legislation this parliament to give the Government more robust or additional powers to keep the UK safe. This could include measures to improve the preparedness of key industries including nuclear, to better protect our Critical National Infrastructure and to support the mobilisation of wider Defence, including industry reserves. The Defence Readiness Bill is potentially a legislative vehicle for the wider Government, not just Defence. We are therefore working closely across Government through the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence programme to shape our key requirements and understand and identify the measures needed. The Prime Minister has made clear the importance of a whole-of-society approach to the UK’s security and resilience and we agree that the MOD has a key role in this. We are engaging with a wide range of interlocutors from industry, academia, think tanks and the third sector on these issues and are taking forward the specific recommendations in the SDR to increase the visibility of the Armed Forces in society. Examples include developing understanding of the Armed Forces among young people in schools, expanding in-school and community-based Cadet Forces and establishing a plan for inviting company leaders onto Defence courses as appropriate.