Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to increase shipbuilding capacity.

This Government has an ambitious shipbuilding pipeline with major naval programmes in progress at a number of UK shipyards, recent export success of the Type 26 frigate to Norway and forthcoming civil shipbuilding programmes.

The National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) is leading the work for Government to engage with industry to explore further opportunities and requirements. As part of their remit, the NSO assesses current and future capacity to consider both demand and supply.