Shipbuilding

Lord Hunt of Chesterton Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hunt of Chesterton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies they have to invest in and promote both defence and civil companies in the United Kingdom shipbuilding industry.

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, the Government’s Ministerial Working Group for Maritime Growth is driving forward the priorities of the maritime sector, promoting the UK’s competiveness in the international market and supporting export campaigns where UK Trade & Investment has identified key priority markets for the ship design, marine engineering and manufacturing sectors.

[Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Lab)]

My Lords, how will the technology and skills developed for the Trident project in conjunction with regional EC funds re-energise the industry, which needs long-term planning that has been somewhat lacking in the last 30 years?

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, is quite right that long-term planning is needed. This is why the national shipbuilding strategy, which is chaired by Sir John Parker, is looking at putting warship building on a sustainable, long-term footing and building a new complex warship on a regular basis— I am told the term is “regular drumbeat of production”. However, at the moment, our order book for the construction of warships is full for the foreseeable future with the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier. We are third in the world behind the USA and Japan when it comes to tonnage under construction.