Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2017 to Question 68695, if he has made an assessment of the implications for the availability of Merlin helicopters for the future mainline task group of the findings of the National Audit Office at paragraph 1.9 of its report on Delivering Carrier Strike, published in March 2017.

HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH will change the way the Royal Navy (RN) operates and this has been planned for accordingly. While there will be challenges through the transition to the new carriers, we are confident the RN will be able to meet its operational commitments.