Written question asked by Frank Dobson (Labour) on Monday, 21 March 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 March 2011. It was answered by Peter Luff (Conservative) on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

HMS Ark Royal

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of retaining HMS Ark Royal and its Harrier aircraft for the next four years.

Answer: [holding answer 28 March 2011]: HMS Ark Royal and the Harrier aircraft were withdrawn from service at the end of 2010 as a consequence of decisions taken during the Strategic Defence and Security Review. While there are no plans to retain these capabilities in operational service, the costs of doing so would have been broadly comparable to the savings we expect to achieve from withdrawing them. We estimate the savings from withdrawing Ark Royal to be £10 million in 2011-12, £25 million in 2012-13, £35 million in 2013-14 and £35 million in 2014-15. Savings from retiring the Harrier aircraft are estimated at around £900 million between now and 2018.

Secondary information