BAE Systems: Type 26 Frigate
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Stirrup
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
I am pleased to say that the steel aspect of HMS “Glasgow” comes up to about 50%. The noble Lord will know, however, that steel manufacture for ships has to be very precise and, at the moment, the UK is not capable of producing the type of thin steel for frigates—or, indeed, the thick steel for submarines, which is another matter. But I can reassure him that the £3.7 billion contract to manufacture the first batch of Type 26s, which was awarded in 2017, is on track.
Lord Stirrup (CB)
Yesterday, in answer to a Question on defence expenditure, the noble Baroness, Lady Penn, gave an alarmingly complacent answer, seeming to indicate that the defence budget that had been settled pre-Ukraine remained perfectly satisfactory. In effect, she was saying that her right honourable colleague the Foreign Secretary was dead wrong. May I ask the Minister whether this is the corporate Cabinet view?
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
It is very much unlike my noble friend on the Front Bench to sound complacent. Even before the events of the past two years, the Government bolstered defence spending with the greatest supplement since the Cold War—an extra £24 billion over the next four years. That has enabled us, once again, to make sure that we have a proper defence programme and is a reform that puts men and women in the Armed Forces at the heart of what we do.
Student Loans
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Stirrup
Viscount Younger of Leckie
That is a question which I am not going to be drawn into answering. However, the interest rates are very much set and as I have said before, they are kept under constant review. A review of higher education funding will be forthcoming.
Lord Stirrup (CB)
My Lords, have the Government assessed whether there would be any material difference in the sums repaid to Her Majesty’s Treasury over the decades if the interest rates were set at a less usurious level?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I am sure those figures have been drawn out but I do not have them with me. However, 98% of all borrowers who entered repayment in April 2015 or earlier have fully repaid or are meeting their repayment obligations. That is testament to the fact that the payment-at-source system, working closely with HMRC, is working well.