Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 13 July (HL1582), whether the Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship will be used as a subsea cable repair ship; and, if so, whether any such ships will be in the 30-year cross-government shipbuilding pipeline to be published later this year.

The Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship will primarily undertake survey work and will also enable us to better protect our undersea cables and energy supplies. It will form part of the 30-year cross-government shipbuilding pipeline which will be published in the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh later this year.