Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his oral contribution during Oral Questions on 27 April 2026, Official Report column 568, which destroyers and frigates he was referring to; and how he calculated the 25% figure.

The Ministry of Defence publishes annual statistics on UK armed forces equipment and formations, including statistics on frigate and destroyer numbers. Statistics from 2016 can be found on Gov.uk here and the 2010 statistics here. These show that in 2010, the Royal Navy had 23 frigates and destroyers and by 2024, this number had reduced by six to 17, a reduction of 26%.