Oral Question:

Mr. Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex) (Con): As the Minister knows, however heroically the Navy tries-it does try heroically-its capabilities have been degraded because of the number of its ships and its inevitable inability to carry out the declared tasks that it handled when it had many more ships. How many escorts does the Minister anticipate one of the new carriers will require when it goes to sea?

Member Answering Question: Bob Ainsworth MP, Minister of State for the Armed Forces

Answer: There will be sufficient escorts for the carrier task fleets and that will be in line with the defence strategy as laid out to the House. We will make sure that the task fleets are fully capable in every aspect of the work that they need to do in order to give the Royal Navy the kind of power projection it must continue to have in future generations.