To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he expects to allocate additional funding to Babcock for the construction of the Type 32 frigates beyond that which was previously agreed.

The Type 32 frigate programme remains in the concept phase and has not yet reached the level of maturity for full budget allocation with only concept funding being allocated to the programme to date. As announced by my predecessor in the House on 30 January 2023, it remains the intent of the Ministry of Defence that 'the programme and procurement strategy will be decided following the concept phase.'