Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) repairing and (b) retrofitting (i) ferries and (ii) container vessels retired from commercial service to make them operable for the Royal Navy.

During the pre-concept and concept phase for any ship procurement programme the widest possible range of options is considered for satisfying the capability requirement, the costs for which would be specific to the particular requirement.