Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on procuring (a) Type 31e frigates and (b) fleet support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary; and if they will be built at UK shipyards.

For the position on the Type 31e frigate programme, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Durham (Kevan Jones) on 5 September 2018 to Questions 167940, 167941, 167942 and 167945 and to the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) to Question 167315.

For the position on the Fleet Solid Support ships, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the then Minister for Defence Procurement (Guto Bebb) on 9 July 2018 to Question 906314 from the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens).