Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the intellectual property for the design of the Fleet Solid Support Ships programme will be based in the UK.

The ships have been designed in the UK by BMT, a leading firm of Naval Architects. Intellectual Property (IP) in the design rests with BMT. The Ministry of Defence does not generally seek to acquire ownership of IP created by contractors undertaking work for the Department but rather to acquire free-user rights that permit the Department to use, modify and manage equipment as it sees fit through life without infringing IP rights or incurring fees.