Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Strategic Defence Review on the (a) budget and (b) headcount of the (i) UK Hydrographic Office and (ii) National Shipbuilding Office.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) sets a path for the next decade and beyond to transform Defence and make the UK stronger both at home and abroad. The Government endorses the Review's vision and accepts all 62 recommendations.

The potential impact of the SDR on the budget and headcount of the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is that, as an arm's length body and trading fund, the SDR has no significant impact on existing UKHO budget and headcount that have not been accounted for within the corporate planning process.

The potential impact of the SDR on the budget and headcount of the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) is yet to be determined. The NSO continues to be this Government's driver for shipbuilding activity both on Government shipbuilding programmes and across the commercial and civil sector.

We will be in a better position to understand this once work on the Defence Investment Plan completes later this year.