Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to Questions 22907 and 22908 tabled by the Rt hon. Member for North Durham.

The Fleet Solid Support contract will create more than 1,200 UK shipyard jobs and around 800 jobs will be sustained in the UK supply chain. There is also substantial investment being made in the UK including around £100 million into UK shipyards, including £77 million of infrastructure at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard, the agreement will see a further £21 million invested in skills and technology transfer from Navantia UK. Whilst the majority of the work will take place in the UK, companies in the supply chain are still being engaged. There is also substantial investment being made in UK shipbuilding and ship design.

As prime contractor for the Fleet Solid Support ships Navantia UK is in the process of letting a number of contracts to UK companies, including those already let with BMT and Harland & Wolff. The value of the individual contracts is commercially sensitive information. It is expected that approximately 60% of the contract value will be with UK companies.