To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q116 of the oral evidence by Andy Start to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, what the budget for Project Hirst has been in each financial year since its establishment.

Task Force HIRST was set up in December 2023 to develop a new strategy that will build a sustained defence industrial partnership between the UK and Ukraine. The funding allocation is yet to be determined. Task Force HIRST activity to date has been funded from existing budgets for support to Ukraine, as the activity is complimentary to the objectives of those initiatives.