27 Apr 21. Sub-Committee on Foreign Involvement in the Defence Supply Chain publishes Special Report. Today, the Defence Sub-Committee on Foreign Involvement in the Defence Supply Chain publishes its Special Report outlining the Government’s response to its report. The Government defends its current approach and declines to take on board the Committee’s recommendation to publish a list of countries it considers friendly and to bar investment from all countries that fall outside of this list, including China and Russia. The Government acknowledges that there is significant Chinese involvement, but argues that it cannot monitor all involvement and instead focuses on critical capabilities. The Government broadly agrees with the Committee’s assessment of COVID support to industry, acknowledging that not all COVID support has reached intended beneficiaries and committing to improve communication strategy particularly with SMEs to ensure they know what support they are eligible to. Additionally, the Committee has written to the Minister for Defence Procurement requesting that information be provided to the Defence Committee on a regular basis as to the nature of mergers and acquisitions within the UK defence industry.