Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to ensure that specialised manufacturing and engineering equipment located at the BAE shipyard, Portsmouth, will be made available to potential new users of the shipyard.

The Ministry of Defence is in discussion with BAE Systems over the feasibility of leaving specialised plant and machinery on the site when shipbuilding in Portsmouth ceases later this year. These discussions are continuing but no decisions have been taken regarding what equipment might be available to a potential new user of the site.