HL Deb 05 April 1984 vol 450 cc890-1WA
The Earl of Kimberley

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why evaluation of the Harpoon bid in the Royal Navy's Strategic Surface-to-Surface Guided Weapon competition has been on the basis of $1.6 per £1 when this puts British industry in a non-competitve situation with respect to current exchange rates.

Lord Trefgarne

We have made a variety of assumptions about future exchange rates in evaluating the overseas expenditure aspects of the tenders for the Royal Navy's future surface-to-surface guided weapon. The sensitivity of the evaluations to changes in these assumptions is one of the many factors to be taken into account in arriving at a decision.