Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of the available number of personnel to crew HMS Iron Duke following its planned maintenance period.

The Royal Navy keeps the crewing of all Ships under continuous review through its Force Generation and personnel management processes, including during operations and maintenance periods in order to deliver units for operations required by the Defence Plan.

Following completion of planned maintenance, ships will routinely be assigned an appropriately trained and qualified Ship’s Company to meet operational requirements. This approach will be adopted in any force generation activity regarding HMS IRON DUKE.