Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether implementation of the National Shipbuilding Strategy will include steps to benchmark shipbuilding facilities at Birkenhead, Glasgow and Rosyth against the international benchmark originally established by First Marine International as part of the Terms of Business Agreement signed between BAE Systems and his Department so as to ensure that UK complex warship building yards will be able to achieve upper quartile status in international performance.

One of the key aims of the National Shipbuilding Strategy is to improve the international competitiveness of the UK shipbuilding industry. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working with industry through the Maritime Enterprise Working Group to undertake a long term programme of improvement. Their initial work will include establishing a comparative assessment of the capacities and capabilities of UK shipbuilders, and exploring best practice. As part of that work, MOD officials have asked the chair of the Maritime Enterprise Working Group to undertake a series of benchmarking studies, the details of which are currently being scoped.