Select committee: Defence Committee
Recommendation 29
Third Report - “We’re going to need a bigger Navy”
Published 14 Dec 2021
Paragraph 199
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee The Navy: purpose and procurement All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Type 32 frigate programme presents an opportunity to start thinking about how to design vessels for the future. We support the Navy’s proposal for a programme that delivers a less exquisite vessel and increases hull numbers for presence operations in relatively permissive environments and lower-level conflict. We strongly recommend that the Navy look carefully at the possibility of emulating other navies’ successes with heavily armed light frigates/corvettes, and consider delivering a similar vessel that will be fitted with an effective missile capability from the start. This should be included in any consideration of using common missile silos across vessel classes.
From: Defence Committee, Third Report - “We’re going to need a bigger Navy” (HC 168), paragraph 199, 14 December 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 February 2022 (deadline 14 February 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Defence Committee's report and sets out the Integrated Review commitments it says address the Royal Navy's role, fleet and shipbuilding, while declining to guarantee a pipeline of work for UK yards.
- On fleet size, the MOD says it is "confident it can realise the ambitious plans outlined in the IR", including up to five Type 32 frigates alongside five Type 31s, so that by 2030 frigates and destroyers "will increase beyond the current 18".
- On reporting, the department "will provide a single annual update to the Defence Committee" covering surface fleet availability and shipbuilding plans. On submarine availability it says it does not comment, as this "would, or would be likely to, prejudice" security.
- On Fleet Solid Support ships, the final manufacture contract "will be awarded to a UK business, either solely or as part of a consortium", with all three ships integrated in UK shipyards. The Contract Notice requires all three to be in service by 2032.
- On Carrier Strike, the government says it remains "on course" for Full Operating Capability in December 2023 and intends to "routinely deploy a CSG annually", with each deployment to be "bespoke" in composition and objectives.