My Lords, every day one can see on the web a mass of efforts by Daesh to recruit people in the West, telling them to kill people—by gun, knife, lorry, car, whatever. We have some of the best people in the world working in the web environment. Does the Minister believe that we are doing as much as we should to stop this, to take down these sites, to get attribution of those who are doing some of these things and to make actual attacks—taking down main servers and hard drives, which we are able to do, getting in among them and indeed spreading separate propaganda, dissention, worry and concern?

My Lords, every day one can see on the web a mass of efforts by Daesh to recruit people in the West, telling them to kill people—by gun, knife, lorry, car, whatever. We have some of the best people in the world working in the web environment. Does the Minister believe that we are doing as much as we should to stop this, to take down these sites, to get attribution of those who are doing some of these things and to make actual attacks—taking down main servers and hard drives, which we are able to do, getting in among them and indeed spreading separate propaganda, dissention, worry and concern?

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the planned date for the naming ceremony for the 7th Astute-class submarine.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the planned date for the naming ceremony for the 7th Astute-class submarine.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the T45 destroyers are fully operational and could be deployed with system certainty in war.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the T45 destroyers are fully operational and could be deployed with system certainty in war.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date the intercooler and generator problems on all T45 destroyers will have been resolved.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date the intercooler and generator problems on all T45 destroyers will have been resolved.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to assess whether an 8th Astute class submarine could be built prior to the first successor submarine being named.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to assess whether an 8th Astute class submarine could be built prior to the first successor submarine being named.

My Lords, the last two Questions have been looking at incarceration. The Minister may be aware that at this time 77 years ago the “Graf Spee” put itself voluntarily into incarceration in Montevideo because it had been outfaced by three British cruisers—three of the 420 ships we had in the Royal Navy at that time. No doubt the noble and learned Lord will wish to congratulate the small handful of survivors of that very famous victory.

My Lords, the last two Questions have been looking at incarceration. The Minister may be aware that at this time 77 years ago the “Graf Spee” put itself voluntarily into incarceration in Montevideo because it had been outfaced by three British cruisers—three of the 420 ships we had in the Royal Navy at that time. No doubt the noble and learned Lord will wish to congratulate the small handful of survivors of that very famous victory.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of human control they consider necessary for compliance with international law in the context of lethal autonomous weapons; and how they will work with other states to define that level of control at the forthcoming Review Conference of the UN Convention on Conventional...

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of human control they consider necessary for compliance with international law in the context of lethal autonomous weapons; and how they will work with other states to define that level of control at the forthcoming Review Conference of the UN Convention on Conventional...

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the decision on a long-term plan for the UK’s plutonium stockpile will be made.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the decision on a long-term plan for the UK’s plutonium stockpile will be made.

My Lords, we will all have seen the Prime Minister aboard HMS “Ocean” earlier this week in Bahrain. Did she know, as she spoke to the assembled ship’s company about the Navy and the importance of its global role post-Brexit, that that ship will be paid off in 2018, after...

My Lords, we will all have seen the Prime Minister aboard HMS “Ocean” earlier this week in Bahrain. Did she know, as she spoke to the assembled ship’s company about the Navy and the importance of its global role post-Brexit, that that ship will be paid off in 2018, after...

My Lords—

My Lords—

I thank the noble Earl for his Answer. He has told me on the Floor of this House on at least two occasions that a report on shipbuilding would come out this autumn which would lay down a steady drum beat of orders. Sir John

Parker’s report has no financial basis—there is no detail there of a drum beat of orders—and now, as I understand it, the shipbuilding report will come out next spring. I know from my time in government that spring can be as late as July. Is it still our Government’s intention to increase frigate numbers by the 2030s, which is not far away in shipbuilding terms, and how will they achieve that with regard to these general purpose frigates? How quickly will they need to be built to achieve that figure?

I thank the noble Earl for his Answer. He has told me on the Floor of this House on at least two occasions that a report on shipbuilding would come out this autumn which would lay down a steady drum beat of orders. Sir John

Parker’s report has no financial basis—there is no detail there of a drum beat of orders—and now, as I understand it, the shipbuilding report will come out next spring. I know from my time in government that spring can be as late as July. Is it still our Government’s intention to increase frigate numbers by the 2030s, which is not far away in shipbuilding terms, and how will they achieve that with regard to these general purpose frigates? How quickly will they need to be built to achieve that figure?

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the publication of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, when they intend to replace the Type 23 Frigates.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the publication of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, when they intend to replace the Type 23 Frigates.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the National Shipbuilding Strategy report by Sir John Parker will be published; and when the new shipbuilding strategy will be announced.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the National Shipbuilding Strategy report by Sir John Parker will be published; and when the new shipbuilding strategy will be announced.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offshore patrol vessels are planned to be available to the UK Border Force for fishery protection and assistance.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many offshore patrol vessels are planned to be available to the UK Border Force for fishery protection and assistance.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when a new solid support ship will be ordered; and whether the ships will be built in the UK from steel manufactured in the UK.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when a new solid support ship will be ordered; and whether the ships will be built in the UK from steel manufactured in the UK.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when it is planned that RFA Argus will be paid off; and whether they intend to build a replacement.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when it is planned that RFA Argus will be paid off; and whether they intend to build a replacement.

My Lords, does the Minister think there might be merit in building a purpose-built ship, which would help British shipbuilders and British steel, could visit various parts of England when needed—and would be quite useful during recesses as well?

My Lords, does the Minister think there might be merit in building a purpose-built ship, which would help British shipbuilders and British steel, could visit various parts of England when needed—and would be quite useful during recesses as well?

My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that this resolution is not very helpful at all? As he says, there are other areas that we need to focus on such as reactivating some of the existing agreements; trying to take weapons off immediate readiness for release, which our nation does not do but some countries still do; getting rid of short-range missiles; holding a debate about ballistic missile defence, and finding methods of talking immediately with the Russians and others about de-escalation where necessary.

My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that this resolution is not very helpful at all? As he says, there are other areas that we need to focus on such as reactivating some of the existing agreements; trying to take weapons off immediate readiness for release, which our nation does not do but some countries still do; getting rid of short-range missiles; holding a debate about ballistic missile defence, and finding methods of talking immediately with the Russians and others about de-escalation where necessary.

I thank the noble Earl for his Answer but it fills me with despair. We are paying off HMS “Ocean” and HMS “Diligence” early. We are paying HMS “Bulwark” into reserve for five years. We have 19 escorts, which is a national disgrace, two of which are tied alongside because of lack of manpower due to cuts made by the coalition. Six destroyers of the 19 have major intercooler problems and there is no programme for exactly when they will be repaired. The House of Commons Defence Committee said it is appalling that we have no real replacements for the ageing Type 23s, and now we are removing Harpoon. This is not an abstract issue. For a number of years we will have ships deployed that might suddenly come across an opponent and have to fight—as happened to me and others. We will have ships sunk and people—boys and girls, as mine were—killed. That is not a good thing. Is it possible to look at having available, on standby, some Block II Harpoons, ready to be pulled out very quickly should we need them for our ships? If not, we are standing into danger.

I thank the noble Earl for his Answer but it fills me with despair. We are paying off HMS “Ocean” and HMS “Diligence” early. We are paying HMS “Bulwark” into reserve for five years. We have 19 escorts, which is a national disgrace, two of which are tied alongside because of lack of manpower due to cuts made by the coalition. Six destroyers of the 19 have major intercooler problems and there is no programme for exactly when they will be repaired. The House of Commons Defence Committee said it is appalling that we have no real replacements for the ageing Type 23s, and now we are removing Harpoon. This is not an abstract issue. For a number of years we will have ships deployed that might suddenly come across an opponent and have to fight—as happened to me and others. We will have ships sunk and people—boys and girls, as mine were—killed. That is not a good thing. Is it possible to look at having available, on standby, some Block II Harpoons, ready to be pulled out very quickly should we need them for our ships? If not, we are standing into danger.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what intelligence assessment they conducted before making the decision to withdraw the Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Royal Navy service at the end of 2018 without replacement.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what intelligence assessment they conducted before making the decision to withdraw the Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Royal Navy service at the end of 2018 without replacement.