Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many operational frigates are in the Royal Naval order of battle.

As a new government we inherited a situation in which the Royal Navy has nine Type 23 frigates in service, six of which are currently available. The normal operating cycle of every ship involves them entering different readiness levels depending on their programmes, periods of refit and departmental planning requirements. The Royal Navy will be transitioning from Type 23 Frigates to two new classes, Type 26 and Type 31, over the next decade.