Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy that Devonport dockyard is considered a potential location for the building of new ships as part of his National Shipbuilding Strategy.

As the hon. Member will be aware, although ship building in Devonport has ceased, the dockyard plays a leading role in UK naval ship repair, maintenance and support.

The Government published Sir John Parker's independent report to inform the National Shipbuilding Strategy in full on 29 November. It is important that the Government gives Sir John's work the full consideration that it deserves. I have asked Ministry of Defence officials, working with others across Government, to examine the report and recommendations, and to discuss them with Industry. Sir John has set Industry the challenge to deliver higher productivity and shorter build cycle times, and it will be for Industry to consider the optimum locations to base their shipbuilding work.

The Government's response in spring 2017, which will be the National Shipbuilding Strategy, will detail how we are dealing with all of Sir John's recommendations.