Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to reduce the administrative impact of bidding for Government contracts on the UK shipbuilding sector within the defence industry.
The Department has taken active steps to reduce the administrative impact on the UK shipbuilding sector and has significantly reduced tender process times on recent programmes and taken other active steps to support the industry. Both the MOD and the National Shipbuilding Office will continue to explore ways to further reduce the administrative burden including for Small and Medium Enterprises.