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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 25006, for what reason the repair and maintenance costs of HMS Diamond were greater than those of the other Type 45 Destroyers.

Mr Philip Dunne

The primary cause of the greater repair and maintenance costs for HMS DIAMOND was a longer Docking Period than the other two routine docking cycles. HMS DARING and HMS DAUNTLESS are the only other Type 45 Destroyers to have completed a routine docking cycle. The additional length of the Docking Period was a reflection of the number of capability upgrades and modifications, fitted to HMS DIAMOND. This was entirely normal for a class of warship of this age and all future Docking Periods for the Class are now programmed for a similar duration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 25075, from which countries steel was sourced for the manufacture of the offshore patrol vessels currently under construction; and what proportion of that steel was sourced from each such country.

Mr Philip Dunne

For the Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) currently under construction around 4,000 tonnes of steel is needed in total for the three ships. Dent Steel Services (UK) was awarded the contract by BAE Systems to source and supply the steel required for the OPVs.

Around 60 per cent of the total steel required for the OPVs consists of thin plate (between four and five millimeters ) which can be sourced only from steel mills capable of rolling the material to that thickness.

UK steel suppliers were approached by Dent but none were able to meet the thickness specification. As a result this steel was sourced from overseas suppliers.

Around 60 per cent of the overall requirement was sourced from Sweden; 20 per cent from UK steel mills; 10 per cent from Spain; and the remaining 10 per cent from Dent’s existing stock, of unknown origin. The use of overseas suppliers was necessary to obtain the required specification of steel at a competitive price for delivery at the time required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 25004, (a) for how many days (a) HMS Daring, (b) HMS Dauntless, (c) HMS Diamond, (d) HMS Dragon, (e) HMS Defender and (f) HMS Duncan were deployed on operations and (b) in which theatre they were so deployed in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2013 and (iv) 2014.

Penny Mordaunt

The information requested is provided below. In answering this question, I have defined ‘deployed on operations’ as times away from UK waters for extended periods.

In 2011, the Type 42 Destroyers were deployed on operations. No Type 45 Destroyer was deployed away from the UK.

2012

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DARING	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	210
HMS DAUNTLESS	Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)	209
HMS DIAMOND	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	191

2013

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DRAGON	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	254
HMS DARING	Global Deployment	277

2014

Ship	Deployment	Number of Days
HMS DIAMOND	Operation Recsyr: protecting and escorting ships transporting chemicals from Syria	163
HMS DEFENDER	Operation Kipion: Gulf Region	193
HMS DRAGON	Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)	198

When not deployed on operations, all Type 45 ships would have undertaken activities such as sea trials, training, engagement, provisioning or been in a maintenance period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24281, how many maritime patrol aircraft from (a) the US, (b) Canada, (c) France and (d) Germany were temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth in 2015.

Penny Mordaunt

The table below shows the total number of maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), from the US, Canada, France and Germany, temporarily deployed to RAF Lossiemouth at some point during 2015.

Country	Number of aircraft
US	11
Canada	3
France	5
Germany	2

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24277, how many Sea King (a) Mk3, (b) Mk3a, (c) Mk4 and (d) Mk5 aircraft are planned to be taken out of service in 2016; and what plans the Government has to replace those assets.

Mr Philip Dunne

A total of 32 Sea King aircraft are planned to be taken out of service during 2016:

10 Mk3

2 Mk3a

9 Mk4

11 Mk5

The Search and Rescue role provided by these Sea King helicopters is to be delivered by contractor-provided services. Other roles delivered by these aircraft will transition to the Merlin fleet operated by the Royal Navy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost was of refitting and refuelling HMS Vengeance between March 2012 and December 2015.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Long Overhaul Period (Refuel) of HMS Vengeance between March 2012 and December 2015 was carried out under a contract worth just over £350 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the amount set aside for contingency funding was within the overall equipment budget of his Department in each of the last six years.

Mr Philip Dunne

Centrally held contingency funding for the Defence Equipment Plan (EP) was introduced for the first time in 2012, at which point it totalled £4.8 billion over the 10 year planning period. The level of contingency has remained broadly stable over the subseqent four years, as shown in the table below.

	EP Contingency by Financial Year
	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
10 Year Total	£4.8 billion	£4.7 billion	£4.6 billion	£4.3 billion

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