Trafalgar Submarines (Hansard, 2 June 1992)

§ Mr. Home Robertson
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress in defining the characteristics of followon Trafalgar class submarines.

§ Mr. Aitken
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton) on 22 May. The design studies into a batch 2 Trafalgar class submarine are progressing satisfactorily and we expect to begin consideration of the results early next year.

§ Mr. Hutton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 21 May,Official Report, column 258, for how many batch 2 Trafalgar class hunter killer submarines he intends to invite tenders for design and construction; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Aitken
No decision has yet been made regarding the number of batch 2 Trafalgar class submarines required.

§ Mr. Hutton
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 21 May,Official Report, column 258, whether he intends to restrict tenders for the design and construction of batch 2 Trafalgar submarines to VSEL; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Aitken
We procure defence equipment through competition wherever practicable. In this case we would expect to invite tenders from any company willing and able to compete for the prime contractorship of the design and construction stage.