§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward this building of(a) the Joint Casualty Treatment Ship and (b) the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability project to fill the workload gap at Swan Hunter Wallsend. [156559]
§ Mr. IngramThe Joint Casualty Treatment Ship project is currently in its Assessment phase and the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability project is in its Concept phase. A range of options for meeting these two requirements is still therefore under consideration. As part of that work, in line with Defence Industrial Policy, the Department considers a wide range of issues including loading in the UK's shipyards. On current plans, it is not, however, expected that any build contracts for these projects will be placed before the middle of the second half of this decade.