§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the impact on the frequency and duration of fishery protection patrols following the replacement of Island class patrol vessels by future offshore patrol vessels. [157741]
§ Mr. SpellarSubject to the satisfactory outcome of detailed discussions with the preferred bidder, Vosper Thornycroft (UK) Ltd., the Ministry of Defence would expect to be in a position shortly to place a contract for the lease of three future offshore patrol vessels to progressively replace the current Island class vessels from September 2002. Because of their higher availability, the three replacement FOPVs will provide identical fishery protection patrol frequency and duration to that which is currently carried out by the five Island class vessels.