Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there are penalty clauses in the procurement contracts for the new Type 26 frigates in the event that his Department does not order a second batch of Type 26 frigates.

For our plans to order the next batch of Type 26 frigates, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (Baroness Goldie of Bishopton), on 21 January 2020 to Question HL366 in the House of Lords.

The terms and conditions of our contract with BAE Systems for the Batch 1 Type 26 frigates are commercially confidential; I can, however, confirm that the contract contains no such penalty clauses.