Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 41
41
Accepted
A theme we heard repeatedly emphasised during our inquiry was the importance of a regular...
Conclusion
A theme we heard repeatedly emphasised during our inquiry was the importance of a regular ‘drumbeat’ of orders to provide a consistent workload that could help industry plan for the future. Stakeholders from all parts of the sector stressed that shipbuilding is an industry that operates on long timescales and which required significant forward planning. We were told that in the past shipbuilding in the UK had suffered from a pattern of ‘feast and famine’, with a sporadic and unpredictable pattern of orders, which had discouraged investment in the industry, increased costs and programme risk, and made shipbuilding a less attractive career option.64 The UK Defence Journal reported that the situation had improved in recent years.65 However, the General Secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, Ian Waddell, warned that “we could be looking at the same issue again if we do not get the distribution of work correct and the right drumbeat of contracts going through the yards.”66
Government response summary AI-generated
The MOD recognizes the importance of maintaining a regular drumbeat of orders across the Shipbuilding industry and the NSbS aims to provide a more sustainable demand signal from Government through a 30-year cross-Government Shipbuilding Pipeline. The NSO has committed to updating the shipbuilding pipeline at each multi-year Spending Review.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The MOD fully recognises the importance of maintaining a regular drumbeat of orders across the Shipbuilding industry. The NSbS is clear that we do not want a return to the “boom and bust” cycles of historic Naval demand, but to provide a more sustainable demand signal from Government as a whole, providing the certainty required by industry.
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