Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 23 September 2026 to question 22803 on Nuclear Submarines: Procurement, how many unproductive hours there were.

The Prime Contractor recorded 39,872 unproductive hours in 2025-26, a significant reduction from the 94,640 hours recorded in 2024-25. This equated to around 6% of the contract value in 2025-26.

These hours arose where Government Furnished Assets (GFA) were not available to the supply chain when required, and where contractual arrangements for coordinating provision across multiple industrial partners were still being refined. Mitigating action has since been taken, including a recruitment pause and the adoption of agile courseware development, which has contributed to a significant reduction in losses in 2025-26 compared with previous years.