HC Deb 12 February 2001 vol 363 cc52-3W
Mr. Rapson

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the numbers of skilled craft people required for the Governments warship building programme; and if he will make a statement. [148234]

Dr. Moonie

It is not feasible for the Ministry of Defence to make such an assessment as the numbers required depend on how contractors construct the ships, and we are encouraging them to be innovative in this to improve value for money. None the less, we keep under review a broad assessment of whether there is sufficient capacity in UK shipyards to undertake our forward Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary shipbuilding programme. From this we believe that there is sufficient capacity in UK shipyards to undertake our forward warship building programme.

Mr. Fabricant

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the state of readiness of the Royal Navy's type 42 frigates. [148235]

Mr. Spellar

There are currently 11 type 42 destroyers in service. Of these, seven are available for operations, fulfilling operational tasking, exercises and training requirements. The remaining four are in periods of refit or upgrade and maintenance.

Mr. Leigh

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the type 45 destroyer. [148237]

Dr. Moonie

A contract was placed on 20 December with BAE Systems Electronics—the nominated prime contractor for the type 45 programme—for the Demonstration and First-of-Class Manufacture phase covering the completion of the design and build of the first three type 45 destroyers.

Our procurement strategy as announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence in the House on 11 July 2000 has not changed. Under this, subject to agreement between pr me contractor and shipbuilders, the first and third ship would be assembled by BAE Systems Marine with a substantial contribution by Vosper Thornycroft (VT) and the second ship by VT. It is expected that the prime contractor will be in a position to place shipbuilding contracts later this year.