Recommendation 46

Other elements of the pipeline face questions, including the Type 32 frigates, which under the pipeline suggested above would be built by Babcock at Rosyth from 2028 into the late 2030s. A National Audit Office report in November noted that, in July 2022, Navy Command withdrew its initial plans for Type 32 frigates and Multi-Role Support Ships because of “concerns about unaffordability,” and that “the revised costing profile is likely to be significantly higher.”77 The Government said in response to a written question in December 2022 that the Type 32 “remains a key part of the future fleet and is currently in 71 National Shipbuilding Office, National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, CP 605, 10 March 2022, p.8 72 Defence Committee, Fifth Special Report of Session 2021–22, “We’re going to need a bigger navy”: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report, HC 1160, p. 15 73 HC Deb, 15 November 2022, Col. 16WS [Commons Written Ministerial Statement] 74 National Shipbuilding Office, National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, CP 605, 10 March 2022, p.19 75 HC Deb, 7 November 2022, Col. 17 [Commons Chamber] 76 PQ 80884 [Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship: Contracts], 7 November 2022 77 National Audit Office, The Equipment Plan 2022 to 2032, HC 907, 29 November 2022, p. 20 22 Defence in Scotland: military shipbuilding the concept phase. Work continues to ensure the programme is affordable.”78 In January 2023 it was reported that the ships may be dropped from the pipeline as part of the upcoming defence review.79 Witnesses expressed concern about what the loss of the Type 32 contract would mean for Scottish shipbuilding: Ian Waddell of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions told the Defence Committee there was a fear that the ‘frigate factory’ at Rosyth could be lost if the Type 32 contract were to go elsewhere.80 Reports suggest that the frigates would directly support 1,200 jobs, as well as thousands more in the wider supply chain.81