Shipbuilding and Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd Insolvency — House of Commons, 2021-11-02
Topic: Defense
Iain Aitken Stewart (Conservative, Centre-right): May I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for East Lothian (Kenny MacAskill) on securing this debate? I will turn to the important points and questions that he has raised shortly, although I do have to say at the outset that they are for the Scottish Government, and not for me, to answer I first want to put this debate in the context of shipbuilding in Scotland more generally. As a global trading island nation with a proud maritime history, shipbuilding is an important part of our industrial identity. Scotland, like every part of the United Kingdom, offers much to our security, sovereignty and prosperity and plays a critical role in the collective defence of our region and global interests My Department has been working closely with the Ministry of Defence to deliver on our ambition to support military shipbuilding in Scotland, and the industry there currently benefits most from MOD expenditure. The Secretary of State for Defence, in his role as ship- building tsar, is acutely aware of the value of shipbuilding in Scotland. He is leading work across Government to deliver on his vision to support industry across the Union, enabling it to become more productive, innovative, and competitive UK naval shipbuilding is currently centred around BAE Systems’ Scotstoun and Govan shipyards and Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard, which also have strong naval export markets. These yards are producing the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates—two crucial naval procurements. Three of the Type 26 ships—HMS Glasgow, HMS Cardiff and HMS Belfast—are under construction on the Clyde. Manufacture of these new, highly capable ships is securing about 1,700 skilled shipbuilding jobs in Scotland and some 4,000 jobs throughout the supply chain across Britain until 2035 On 23 September 2021, the shipbuilding tsar officially cut steel for HMS Venturer, the first of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates, during a ceremony held at Rosyth dockyard. The event marks a significant milestone in the programme for the Royal Navy, defence and shipbuilding in Scotland, with all five vessels to be built by Babcock on the firth of Forth at an average production cost of £250 million per vessel. The Type 31 contract, awarded in November 2019 and to run until 2028, has led to a £71 million infrastructure investment for the dockyard and sustains 130 apprenticeships and 20 graduate positions Last month, my noble Friend the Minister of State, Baroness Goldie, had the opportunity to speak with some of Babcock’s current apprentices to hear at first hand how their academic interests in science, technology, engineering and maths have led to a career in defence manufacturing. Since March 2020, Babcock has supported approximately 300 apprentices, mostly from the local area of Dunfermline and West Fife. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland recently visited the Govan shipyard, where he was briefed on the Type 26 programme by Simon Lister, head of BAE’s naval ships business, and had the opportunity to engage with employees and trade union representatives Our national shipbuilding strategy refresh will be published later this year. It will set out how the Government intend to set the conditions for success in the UK shipbuilding industry, both domestically and for exports, and how the Government will work with the industry to create lasting transformation. Scottish yards are likely to benefit from the new investment in the Type 32 multi-role ocean surveillance and multi-role support ships, and in Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship conversion. The shipbuilding strategy refresh will set out how the Government will provide further support to industry on exports and how we will engage with overseas partners to secure export successes. Indeed, my noble Friend the Lord Offord was in India just the other week, helping to explore the potential for future export orders A regular drumbeat of design and manufacturing work in UK yards is needed to maintain the industrial capabilities that are important for UK national security, and to drive efficiencies that will reduce longer-term costs in the shipbuilding portfolio and help to secure further export success. A stable pipeline of orders, as the hon. Gentleman has indicated, is clearly necessary to build and maintain a skilled workforce.