§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is his estimate of the cost of producing Concorde aircraft (a) being currently built and (b) which might be built in response to further orders requiring the authorisation of further production.
§ Mr. MeacherThe estimated cost, net of sales receipts, to the United Kingdom518W Government of the production of 16 Concorde aircraft, and support of the authorised programme up to 1978–79, is given on pages 34–5 of the recent White Paper on Public Expenditure (Cmnd 5879) and amounts in total to £142.4 million at 1974 survey prices. Estimates of the comparable cost to the French Government are not available at present. The cost of any further production would depend on the number of additional aircraft and the rate at which they were produced.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement on the progress of Concorde towards passenger-carrying service.
§ Mr. MeacherAs my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Industry, said in reply to the hon. Member for Christchurch and Lymington (Mr. Adley) on 27th January, the manufacturers are pressing ahead with the authorised programme for the development of the entry into service version and the production of 16 aircraft with the objective of enabling commercial services to start at the earliest practicable date.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many man-hours are currently being worked by the staff of his Department on matters concerned with the Concorde programme.
§ Mr. MeacherSome 2,040 man-hours per week are currently being worked by staff of my Department engaged full-time on matters directly concerned with the Concorde programme. In addition, a substantial amount of work is done by staff of the Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive on the administration of the Concorde contracts and on the monitoring of the Olympus 593 engine programme.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the total cost of the Concorde programme up to the present date in current terms and in terms of the value of the £ sterling at the inception of the programme; and what part of that total cost is being met by the United Kingdom taxpayer.
§ Mr. MeacherExpenditure in the United Kingdom and France on the Concorde development programme to the end 519W of 1974 is estimated at £866 million at current prices, equivalent to £504 million at 1962 prices. This expenditure was incurred almost exactly equally in the two countries. British expenditure to the same date on production, capital assistance, intramural and ancillary work on Concorde is estimated at £176 million at current prices, equivalent to £86 million at 1962 prices. No precise estimate of equivalent French costs is available, but their magnitude is understood to be similar.
The eventual net cost to the United Kingdom taxpayer will depend on the number of aircraft sold.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry if it is his intention to authorise further production of Concorde aircraft.
§ Mr. MeacherAny decision on the authorisation of further Concorde production would need to be taken jointly by the British and French Governments in the light of circumstances prevailing at the time and especially the market prospects.