National security and resilience : third report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes, and written evidence

This report is in response to the Government's reply to the Committee's May 2009 Report on the Defence contribution to national security and resilience.

The Committee is disappointed with the content of the Government's response to its earlier Report, and challenges the Ministry of Defence to be more open in setting out its role in contributing to the nation's security.

In this Report, the Committee: calls upon the Government to provide regular updates on national security to appropriate select committees; deplores the Government's failure so far to establish a Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy following the announcement of July 2008; and stresses the importance of the forthcoming defence Green Paper and Strategic Defence Review in making the necessary and important connections between national security and strategic defence capabilities.

The next Government must spell out more clearly the role of the UK's defence assets in our national security.