Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 January 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 21 January 2011. It was answered by Peter Luff (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Trident

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what preparatory work for the assessment phase for the replacement programme for Trident has been commissioned on (a) the hull structure and structural fittings, including on castings and forgings and on steel and control surfaces, (b) primary and secondary propulsion systems and (c) electrical generation, conversion and distribution, including turbo generators, platform management system software, main switchboards, internal communications, diesel generators, main static converters, main DC distribution, distribution convertors, cathodic protection system, the degaussing system, computer information systems, main battery, and remote visual surveillance system; from which companies such work has been commissioned in each case; and what the value is of each such contract.

Answer: Two of the purposes of the concept phase of the programme to replace the Vanguard submarines are to identify technology and procurement options for meeting the requirement, and to provide information to support initial gate decisions.During the concept phase the Ministry of Defence has placed contracts with Rolls-Royce Power Engineering plc that include design and development work for the primary propulsion plant, with design verification and validation activities, to a value of some £220 million. A number of technical demonstrator contracts have also been placed with industry and other bodies to inform work on the options and recommendations made in the initial gate business case.Some of this work will inform decisions on the purchase of the long lead items listed in the question, but further information is not held centrally and to attempt to reconcile the information against the list of long lead items given could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information