With design work already underway, the Department intends to place a contract for the manufacture of the floating docks following production of the technical specification and upon completion of a procurement process.

While not formally under the scope of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the analogous shipbuilding sector is well placed to participate in an upcoming procurement for the floating docks. As such, the National Shipbuilding Office has been consulted as part of the next investment decision point. Until the outcome of that next investment decision point is known, it is too early to provide information on job creation.

With design work already underway, the Department intends to place a contract for the manufacture of the floating docks following production of the technical specification and upon completion of a procurement process.

While not formally under the scope of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the analogous shipbuilding sector is well placed to participate in an upcoming procurement for the floating docks. As such, the National Shipbuilding Office has been consulted as part of the next investment decision point. Until the outcome of that next investment decision point is known, it is too early to provide information on job creation.

With design work already underway, the Department intends to place a contract for the manufacture of the floating docks following production of the technical specification and upon completion of a procurement process.

While not formally under the scope of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the analogous shipbuilding sector is well placed to participate in an upcoming procurement for the floating docks. As such, the National Shipbuilding Office has been consulted as part of the next investment decision point. Until the outcome of that next investment decision point is known, it is too early to provide information on job creation.

With design work already underway, the Department intends to place a contract for the manufacture of the floating docks following production of the technical specification and upon completion of a procurement process.

While not formally under the scope of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the analogous shipbuilding sector is well placed to participate in an upcoming procurement for the floating docks. As such, the National Shipbuilding Office has been consulted as part of the next investment decision point. Until the outcome of that next investment decision point is known, it is too early to provide information on job creation.

My Lords, the defence industrial strategy set a vision to make the UK defence sector more competitive, innovative and resilient, including measures backing UK businesses, lowering barriers to entry and increasing competitiveness by supporting SMEs through the defence office for small business growth, reforms to social value and exploring an offset policy, regional defence growth deals supported by £250 million and establishing the office of defence exports, helping businesses compete globally.

I will look at the specific example that my noble friend has raised about the awarding of that contract. As well as that example, I could give others of where we have been successful in ensuring that shipbuilding is seeing something of a renaissance in our country, not least the recent winning of the contract from Norway for Type 26 frigates on the Clyde. That was an enormous boost to British shipbuilding and to that part of Scotland. That is the sort of example that we want to build on, but I will look at the example that my noble friend raised.

The UK Ministry of Defence has adopted the use of low-earth orbit satellite technologies to augment and supplement its sovereign military geostationary communications satellites in support of deployed operations and training exercises. There are significant benefits of low-earth orbit satellites as part of a hybrid approach, including ease of use, fast throughput and rapid deployment. These benefits need to be balanced against security, assurance and vulnerability considerations. Resilience of Defence satellite communications is achieved through a multi-orbit approach, of which low-Earth orbit satellites forms one element.

My noble friend raises an important point. We would all agree that this Government need to ensure that, as far as possible, the increases in defence spending benefit UK industry, British industry, and that is what we are seeking to do. We are doing that with the steel industry, and we want to see shipbuilding benefiting from the increases in defence spending. That requires a whole UK Government effort, not only at government level but with all the devolved Governments across the UK working together to ensure that we benefit from this increase in spending.

As I say, the crucial point, which has been brought home to us all, is the ability of this country to rebuild manufacturing, whether it be shipbuilding, steel or other industries, to ensure that we have the sovereign capability we need should we face a crisis. Frankly, this has been a wake-up call that may have come too late for this conflict, but for future conflicts we will ensure that we have capability now rather than at some distant point in the future.

Where applicable, the Department publishes a Contract Notice for MOD-issued tenders for new procurements over £12,000 (inc VAT) on Contracts Finder which is in the public domain.

Additionally, the Department provides the Cabinet Office upon request with periodic statistical reports on contracts and tenders over the £12,000 (inc VAT) threshold that have been published or are exempt from publication.

The Office for Government Property (OGP) conducted a data capture exercise to bring together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place, which we have since used in conjunction with individual departments to encourage them to conclude their identification stage. This has aided in identifying a list of confirmed Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete across individual department’s estates.

Each department owns the data relating to specific locations, identification and remediation plans within their estate.

Surveys are ongoing on all buildings which may have been constructed using RAAC.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation determined what buildings on Ministry of Defence land might potentially contain Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.

Surveys are ongoing on all buildings which may have been constructed using RAAC.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation determined what buildings on Ministry of Defence land might potentially contain Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.

I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 October 2023 to Question 197591 to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Mr Luke Pollard)

As at 28 November 2023, 12,660 buildings on the Defence Estate have been assessed as requiring Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete surveys. Initial surveys have been completed for 11,602 of these; surveys for the remaining 1,058 buildings are ongoing.

The Government has acted decisively to tackle this issue and has taken a proportionate approach informed by experts.

Professional advice from experts on RAAC has evolved over time, from advice in the 1990s that RAAC did not pose a safety hazard to more recent advice on identifying and assessing structural adequacy.

The Office of Government Property wrote to all Government Property Leaders in 2019, and again in September 2022, highlighting safety alerts on RAAC and signposting guidance on identification and remediation. The Government also created a cross-Government working group on RAAC this year to collectively address the issue.

Since then, departments have been surveying properties and depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either continue to monitor the structure, reinforce it, or replace it. This is in line with the approach recommended by the Institution of Structural Engineers.

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Infrastructure Management System has been used to determine what Ministry of Defence assets might potentially contain RAAC material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.

Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Infrastructure Management System has been used to determine what Ministry of Defence assets might potentially contain RAAC material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.

Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Infrastructure Management System has been used to determine what Ministry of Defence assets might potentially contain RAAC material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type.

Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continues to fund research and development (R&D) to protect the UK from a variety of threats. Missile defence R&D is delivered by the UK Missile Defence Centre (MDC) which is a government-industry partnership led by the MOD. The MDC funds research to underpin capability development and sustain critical capabilities, integrating relevant research and technologies from across MOD's Science & Technology portfolio. The research programme covers existing and future ballistic threats as well as evolving hypersonic threats.

The MOD works closely with NATO and International Partners across a range of related R&D areas. The UK is committed to co-operation with the United States and Australia on counter-hypersonics through the AUKUS partnership.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a team that engages regularly with the World Radiocommunication Conference process, throughout its four-year lifecycle, to ensure the MOD's views are fully represented. This includes engagement with our NATO and Five Eyes partners. Extensive work is undertaken to understand and assess the impact of any changes on Defence capabilities both before and after regulatory changes have been agreed. We are actively engaging with international partners on the topics for the World Radiocommunication Conference in November-December 2023, to ensure these are acceptable to the UK.