Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the power and propulsion systems of the Type 45 destroyer; what actions they plan to take and to what timescale in order to remedy any problems that may have been identified; what is the estimated cost of any necessary remedial work; and what share of this cost will be borne by public funds.

As a new class of warship the Type 45 has experienced some equipment reliability issues. Most of these have been resolved. Work is continuing to resolve the remaining issues. This is being funded from within existing Ministry of Defence (MOD) support budgets.

In addition, options to undertake a Diesel Generator upgrade are being considered. This would add greater resilience to the Power and Propulsion system by increasing electrical generation capacity. The feasibility phase for this work, which is being co-funded by BAE Systems and the MOD, will conclude at the end of March 2015. A decision on whether to proceed with the upgrade programme will then be considered against wider Defence priorities and would be funded by the MOD.

I am withholding information about the potential costs for the Diesel Generator upgrade as releasing such information at this stage would prejudice the commercial interests of the MOD.

We have six in service, and the Type 45 class has demonstrated its capability, supporting operations in the Gulf and the South Atlantic.