Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Fishing Vessel Avoidance UK Code of Practice extracted from SMP 95 dated 5 June 2002 applies to Vanguard and Astute class submarines on operational patrols.

The procedures and arrangements in the Code of Practice apply to all Royal Navy submarines irrespective to the tasking of the submarine (ie whether transits, exercises or other dived activity), and to Allied submarines operating in UK territorial and internal waters.