Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to replace the present fleet of Border Force cutters; and whether her Department has made a recent estimate of the cost of replacing that fleet.

The schedule for replacing the Border Force’s fleet of five cutters and six coastal patrol vessels is, as set out in the refresh of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, framed around the existing vessels approaching the end of their lives and requiring replacement over the next five years.

The budget on 27 October 2021 announced funding of £74m over the Spending Review period. The full cost of the programme, including beyond the Spending Review period, will be refined once supplier engagement has taken place.