Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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.