Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 February 1997. It was answered by Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative) on Monday, 24 February 1997 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: Pursuant to his oral Answer of 11th February, Official Report, columns 125-6W if he will set out the basis of his estimate for the total cost of the nuclear programme; and if he will list for each year the sum in 1997 prices represented by that estimate.

Answer: Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral answer of 11 February, Official Report, columns 125-6, if he will set out the basis of his estimate for the total cost of the nuclear programme; and if he will list for each year the sum in 1997 prices represented by that estimate. [17051] Mr. Soames: The estimate given by my right hon. Friend was in response to a question about Trident rather than the defence nuclear programme at large. Pursuant to that answer, and in response to the present question, procurement of the Trident system will have absorbed less than 2 1/2 per cent. of defence spending during the years in question. It is still too early to make a detailed assessment of the operating costs of Trident but our best estimate remains some £6 billion over the life of the system. As to future overall costs of the nuclear programme, I have decided not to disclose these under exemption 1 to the code of practice on access to Government information, which covers information whose disclosure would harm national security or defence.

Secondary information