Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department has decided no longer explicitly to commit to achieving the national sovereign capability to achieve a build interval of one shipbuild every 12 months and a design interval of every six years for complex warships as previously set out in the Terms of Business Agreement signed between his Department and the company currently known as BAE Surface Systems Ships Ltd.

The National Shipbuilding Strategy lays the foundations for a modern and efficient shipbuilding sector capable of meeting the country's future defence and security needs.