Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support British shipbuilding.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 9 June 2022 to Question 10012 to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Stuart Anderson).

Since then, we have launched the third round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, committing £60 million. This is the largest ever government R&D investment into the UK commercial maritime sector. This is part of Department for Transport's £206 million investment in a UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions, which will match-fund private investment in the commercialisation of clean maritime technologies.

The National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) which was created to drive the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, has now been established as an Office of Department. It continues to engage with colleagues across Government and industry to promote growth across the entire UK shipbuilding sector.

For example, the UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce, led by the Department for Education, meets monthly to look at how we can ensure the UK's shipbuilding industry has a skilled workforce for the future. Working with representatives from across the shipbuilding industry, the NSO also leads on the Shipbuilding Enterprise for Growth which aims to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high-value skilled jobs across the UK shipbuilding enterprise.