Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what investigations were carried out by his Department prior to the statement that no UK submarines were within 150 miles of the incident involving the fishing vessel Karen.

The incident involving a Royal Navy (RN) submarine and the Fishing Vessel Karen took place on 15 April 2015. No other RN vessels were in the area at the time. On information available at the time, the RN was confident that no UK submarine was involved.

Detailed analysis of operational records is routine and this revealed that a UK submarine was involved in this incident. The submarine was not aware of the incident at the time and, therefore, did not surface.

Once this new information was confirmed, the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon) was informed on 6 August.

During August, I held meetings to establish the facts, question the RN and discuss changes to policy to ensure the safety of fishing vessels. I then took the earliest opportunity to inform the House and put the public record straight on 7 September.

The RN is conducting an investigation of the circumstance surrounding this incident. Consideration will be given in due course to the information that could be released, within the bounds of operational security.

I am withholding further information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.