Written Question
Wednesday 1st October 2025
Asked by:
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the capability of the Harland and Wolff shipyard to construct Royal Navy defence warships before the contract for that project was awarded.
Answered by Lord Coaker
- Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Building on the success of the Type 31 Frigate competition, one of the main aims of the programme was to see British shipbuilders play a key role in the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ship competition and for companies, including British firms, to tender for the design and build of the FSS ships. The competition sought to maximise the economic and social contribution shipbuilding can make in the UK, including encouraging investment in domestic shipyards, whilst balancing the need to deliver value for money and an overall compliant solution to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s needs.
The FSS ship contract was awarded to Navantia UK (NUK), with Harland & Wolff (H&W) as a strategic subcontractor and part of the winning consortium. The build strategy was, and remains, that all three ships will be assembled from blocks manufactured in H&W’s shipyards in the UK and Navantia's shipyards in Spain. Final assembly, systems integration and testing of the ships is planned to take place in Belfast.
In order to deliver this build strategy, the contract required an investment of approximately £100 million in Belfast for recapitalisation of production facilities and investment in skills transfer, knowledge and technology.
Throughout the FSS ship’s competition procurement process all bidders were subject to economic and financial standing tests consistent with the relevant UK public procurement legislation and rules. On contract award, the Ministry of Defence’s assessment was that H&W were able to deliver their part of the programme. NUK are responsible for managing their subcontractors, including H&W, with protections ensured through the prime contractual arrangements.
Following H&W’s insolvency and NUK’s acquisition of the four H&W yards in January 2025, the works to recapitalise the Belfast shipyard have restarted; this investment will further strengthen UK capability, modernising the shipbuilding facilities in Belfast and leading to increased productivity and capacity.
Written Question
Thursday 19th December 2024
Asked by:
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the missiles manufactured by the Thales Air Defence bases in Belfast and Crossgar are transported annually to (1) Ukraine, and (2) Israel, for defensive purposes.
Answered by Lord Coaker
- Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
For national security reasons we do not disclose details of numbers of such munitions that are produced for the UK Armed Forces. I can confirm however that Lightweight Multirole Missiles (LMMs) are being procured by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for its own stockpiles and in September 2024 the Government announced that MOD was procuring 650 of these missiles for Ukraine for air defence. LMM has not been exported to Israel.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jun 2021
Secret Documents
"My Lords, there has been a suggestion that some of the documents were printed on pink paper, indicating the sort of material that should not be removed from the MoD except under exceptional circumstances and according to strict procedures. What were those exceptional circumstances in this case and what are …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 13 Apr 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 13 Apr 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"My Lords, all the amendments in this group apart from Amendment 18 are in my name. Amendments 2, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 30 are the core amendments and the others in my name are consequential.
The purpose of this suite of amendments is to limit the extent of …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 13 Apr 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate, some in favour of my amendment and others not. That is the very nature of debate: it is about achieving an opinion that can be either for or against a particular Motion or amendment—or, in this instance, …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 09 Mar 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. Like she does, I believe that Part 1 of the Bill should be cancelled because it creates a lock on prosecutions. I therefore support the amendments and the proposals to cancel Clauses 1 to 7.
Coming from …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 09 Mar 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 09 Mar 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"My Lords, in moving Amendment 16 I will speak also to Amendments 25, 33 and 69 in my name and those of the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, and the noble Lord, Lord Hain. The purpose of these amendments is to ensure adherence to the Good Friday agreement, as …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 09 Mar 2021
Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill
"My Lords, I thank all who participated in this short but timely and important debate: the noble Baronesses, Lady Chakrabarti and Lady Suttie, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, and the Minister.
The noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, underlined the importance of an …..."Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick - View Speech
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