Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much UK steel was used to construct (a) Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carriers, (b) Type 45 Destroyers, (c) Type 23 Frigates, (d) Vanguard class submarines, (e) Astute class submarines and (f) Trafalgar class submarines.

Steel for our major defence programmes is generally sourced by our prime contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers. Many defence programmes require specialised steels that are not currently manufactured in the UK; nevertheless, we encourage the sourcing of UK steel wherever it is technically and commercially feasible.

UK suppliers make a significant contribution to the supply of steel for some of our largest defence equipment projects, for example around 88% of the structural steel for the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers was UK-sourced.

As a result of a Ministerial answer provided on 9 March 2006, it is known that the Type 23 frigates contain steel from both British and overseas steel makers. However, owing to the time that has elapsed since the procurement of the Type 23 and Type 45 ships, the precise sources and relative quantities of steel used in their manufacture is unknown.

There are currently no UK suppliers of the specialised steel required in the manufacture of submarine pressure hulls. Other grades of steel used in the manufacture of Astute Class submarines were sourced from a range of suppliers, including a number of UK companies. Owing to the complexity of the Astute programme supply chain and the time that has elapsed since the steel for the programme was procured, reliable information is no longer available on the tonnages of steel provided by each supplier, and I am therefore unable to state what proportion of the steel requirement was UK sourced.

Pressure hull steel used in the production of the Vanguard Class of submarine was predominantly sourced from the British Steel Corporation's Dalzell plant in Motherwell, Scotland. Owing to the time that has elapsed since the procurement of steel for the Trafalgar Class submarines, reliable information on the source is not readily available. However, it is likely that the pressure hull steel was produced by UK manufacturers. It is also likely that for both classes other grades of steel were partly, or wholly, UK sourced.