The Ministry of Defence continues to monitor Babcock’s financial position and delivery performance on the Type 31 frigate programme and is working with the company to manage schedule risks, while declining to comment on the cumulative loss the firm has taken on the fixed-price contract, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked what information the department holds on the total cumulative loss sustained to date by Babcock on the fixed-price contract for the Type 31, and what assessment had been made of the potential impact of that loss on the delivery schedule.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Industry and Readiness, said: “The Ministry of Defence does not comment on the detailed commercial or financial performance of its suppliers beyond information placed in the public domain by those companies. The Department continues to monitor Babcock’s financial position and delivery performance in relation to the Type 31 programme. We continue to work with closely with Babcock to support, monitor, and manage schedule risks and ensure delivery of the five Type 31 frigates.”
Babcock won the Type 31 competition in 2019 with a fixed-price contract worth £1.25 billion for five ships. The company has disclosed charges against the programme in its own annual results, including a £100 million charge announced in 2023.
The ships are being built in a covered assembly hall at Rosyth. HMS Venturer was launched in 2024 and is fitting out, with Active, Formidable, Bulldog and Campbeltown following. Pollard confirmed in a separate answer the same day that five Type 31 frigates are expected in service by the early 2030s.
The design, Arrowhead 140, is derived from the Danish Iver Huitfeldt class. Poland has ordered three ships to the same design for its Miecznik programme, being built at Gdynia under licence, and Indonesia has ordered a variant.
It’s hard to deal with these delays when you can see the ships rolling out of the build hall at a rapid pace. We have four desperately needed new frigates at Rosyth and the Clyde sitting in dry docks for internal fitting which seems to take forever.