Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the production of the Type (a) 26 and (b) 31e Frigates; and what plans he to export those frigates.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to the right hon. Member for North Durham (Kevan Jones) and the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) on 5 September 2018 in response to Questions 167940, 167941, 167942, 167945 and 167315 and given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State for Defence, Earl Howe, to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, in the House of Lords to Question HL5772.
We awarded the £3.7 billion contract to manufacture the first batch of three Type 26 Frigates in June 2017. We cut steel on the first ship, HMS Glasgow, in July 2017 and the build programme is progressing well.
There has already been success in exporting the Type 26 Frigate: our international partner Australia has announced its decision to build the Hunter Class variant of the Type 26 Frigate to meet its SEA 5000 requirement. We have also supported by BAE Systems' bid for the Canadian Future Surface Combatant competition and are committed to supporting future potential export opportunities.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What progress he has made on implementing the National Shipbuilding Strategy and procuring the Type 31e frigate.
Answered by Guto Bebb
We launched the Type 31e programme in September last year. The programme is in the pre-procurement phase and we are currently looking at industry’s responses to a Request for Information which invited high level proposals against the outline requirements for an initial order of five ships at a maximum average price of £250 million each.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to make a decision on the (a) theme and (b) names of the Type 26 Global Combat Ships.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Ships' Names and Badges Committee (SNBC) is responsible for considering and assessing the possible names for a new ship or class of ship. The committee considers all names which have been proposed, formally and informally, and presents its recommendations to a Panel of Senior Naval Officers from the Navy Board. The name(s) chosen at that stage are forwarded to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence before being submitted to Her Majesty the Queen for final approval.
A decision with regards to this process is not expected until the Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme has completed its assessment phase and Main Gate.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) men and (b) women were recruited to each service through the Armed Forces Careers Office in Gloucester in each of the last five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The requested information is provided below:
UK Regular Armed Forces Recruitment through the Armed Forces Careers Office (AFCO) Gloucester by gender and Service, financial years (FY) 2010-11 to 2014-15.
FY2010-11 | FY2011-12 | FY2012-13 | FY2013-14 | FY2014-15 | ||||||
Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
Naval Service | 50 | ~ | 50 | ~ | 60 | - | 60 | ~ | 60 | ~ |
Army | 40 | ~ | 40 | ~ | 60 | ~ | 40 | ~ | 50 | ~ |
RAF | 20 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 40 | 10 |
UK Regular Armed Forces Recruitment Nationally and through AFCO Gloucester, by Service and Self-Declared Black Asian or Minority Ethnicity, FYs 2010-11 to 2014-15.
FY2010-11 | FY2011-12 | FY2012-13 | FY2013-14 | FY2014-15 | ||||||
Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | |
Naval Service | 60 | - | 50 | - | 50 | ~ | 70 | ~ | 70 | - |
Army | 200 | - | 300 | - | 280 | ~ | 220 | ~ | 330 | ~ |
RAF | 40 | ~ | 30 | - | 40 | - | 40 | ~ | 70 | ~ |
Notes: Figures for the RAF (only) include recruitment of Officers and may include Commonwealth recruits. ‘~’ represents less than 10 and ‘-‘ represents zero. All numbers have been rounded and numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many minority ethnic service personnel were recruited to each service (a) nationally and (b) in Gloucester in each of the last five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The requested information is provided below:
UK Regular Armed Forces Recruitment through the Armed Forces Careers Office (AFCO) Gloucester by gender and Service, financial years (FY) 2010-11 to 2014-15.
FY2010-11 | FY2011-12 | FY2012-13 | FY2013-14 | FY2014-15 | ||||||
Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
Naval Service | 50 | ~ | 50 | ~ | 60 | - | 60 | ~ | 60 | ~ |
Army | 40 | ~ | 40 | ~ | 60 | ~ | 40 | ~ | 50 | ~ |
RAF | 20 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 30 | ~ | 40 | 10 |
UK Regular Armed Forces Recruitment Nationally and through AFCO Gloucester, by Service and Self-Declared Black Asian or Minority Ethnicity, FYs 2010-11 to 2014-15.
FY2010-11 | FY2011-12 | FY2012-13 | FY2013-14 | FY2014-15 | ||||||
Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | Nationally | AFCO Glos | |
Naval Service | 60 | - | 50 | - | 50 | ~ | 70 | ~ | 70 | - |
Army | 200 | - | 300 | - | 280 | ~ | 220 | ~ | 330 | ~ |
RAF | 40 | ~ | 30 | - | 40 | - | 40 | ~ | 70 | ~ |
Notes: Figures for the RAF (only) include recruitment of Officers and may include Commonwealth recruits. ‘~’ represents less than 10 and ‘-‘ represents zero. All numbers have been rounded and numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the new Type 26 frigates will be named after cities; and when he plans to announce the names of the frigates.
Answered by Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 September 2014 (Official Report, column 584-585W) to the hon. Member for Plymouth Moor View (Alison Seabeck).