Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many companies are contracted to deliver in-service support of (a) complex warships, (b) submarines and (c) naval base services as part of the Maritime Support Delivery Framework; and how many companies are planned to deliver the Future Maritime Support Programme.

Most onshore support services at HM Naval Bases, which support HM ships and submarines, are managed under the Maritime Support Delivery Framework contracts. These two contracts cover a wide range of services and are managed on behalf of the Ministry of Defence by our Prime Contractors, Babcock and BAE Systems.

Babcock is contracted to support the Naval Bases at Devonport and Clyde, while BAE Systems supports the Naval Base at Portsmouth. Both Babcock and BAE Systems sub-contract these services further, but the Ministry of Defence does not hold information on these sub-contracts centrally.

The provision of services under the Future Maritime Support Programme is currently under commercial tender and negotiation. As a result, at this stage, the number of providers is unknown.