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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the current operating costs of the Polaris fleet; what were the costs in each of the last 15 years at 1996 prices; and what sum the Government have allocated for (a) decommissioning and (b) scrapping the Polaris (i) submarines, (ii) missiles and (iii) war heads. [10746] Mr. Soames: The operating costs of the Polaris fleet in each of the last 15 years at 1995-96 prices are as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Financial year Spend at constant prices £million{1} 1981-92 470 1982-83 472 1983-84 410 1984-85 367 1985-86 383 1986-87 434 1987-88 434 1988-89 373 1989-90 303 1990-91 250 1991-92 183 1992-93 162 1993-94 107 1994-95 67 1995-96 63 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} All at 1995-96 prices using GDP deflators. Details of operating costs during the current financial year are in the course of preparation. The estimated cost for the defuelling, de-equipping and laying-up of the Polaris fleet of submarines is approximately £71 million at 1996-97 prices, over the next ten years. No firm estimate is yet available of the likely cost of eventual disposal. The cost of decommissioning and scraping Polaris missiles currently totals £8 million. These costs include sums already spent plus values of contracts let. The sum covers missile decommissioning/scrapping costs but excludes warhead disposal. It is not our practice to reveal costs associated with the warhead.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

10746; 288 c128-9W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Decommissioning Operating costs Polaris submarines Polaris missiles Polaris

Contains statistics

Yes