Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has plans to use the security exemption offered under World Trade Organisation rules to exclude foreign companies from bids to construct and supply warships in the UK.

As warships are expressly excluded from the UK's list of covered goods in the World Trade Organisation Government Procurement Agreement, the national security exemption in Article III of that Agreement is not engaged. In relation to the supply of warships, the applicability of the national security exemptions in the Public Contracts Regulations and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations will be assessed on a case by case basis. This is in line with the Ministry of Defence shipbuilding policy set out in the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy.