Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where each offshore patrol vessel (a) is deployed and (b) was manufactured; what the purchase cost was of each vessel; and what the annual (i) running and (ii) maintenance costs are of the Overseas Patrol Squadron.

In answer to the hon. Member's questions I can provide the following information:

a) The offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) are currently deployed as follows:

• HMS Mersey, HMS Severn and HMS Tyne are all in the UK
• HMS Forth is in the South Atlantic with British Forces South Atlantic Islands
• HMS Medway is in Gibraltar
• HMS Trent is in the Caribbean
• HMS Tamar and HMS Spey are in the Indo-Pacific

b) HMS Mersey, HMS Severn and HMS Tyne are Batch 1 vessels, built by Vosper Thorneycroft at Southampton.

HMS Forth, HMS Medway, HMS Trent, HMS Tamar and HMS Spey are Batch 2 vessels, built at BAE Systems’ shipyards on the Clyde.

c) It is not possible to give a purchase cost for individual vessels, however the Contract value for the two Batches were:

• The contract for the three Batch 1 vessels had a value of £378 million.
• The contract for the five Batch 2 vessels had a value of £635 million.

i) The annual running costs for all OPVs for Financial Year (FY) 2022-23 was £54.122 million.

ii) The maintenance costs for all OPVs for FY 2022-23 was £51.250 million.