§ Mr. HicksTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when he plans to finalise the contract for the building and construction work at Devonport dockyard to accommodate the refitting of Trident submarines; when he expects this work to commence; and what is the estimated cost; [28052]
188W(2) when he plans to finalise the contract for the refitting of Trident submarines at Devonport dockyard. [28053]
Mr. Arbuthnot: We plan to finalise the contract for construction of the future nuclear refitting facilities at Devonport by the end of the summer; construction is scheduled to start in early 1998. Certain contractual details, including price, remain subject to negotiation and are commercially confidential. Contracts for individual refits of Vanguard class submarine will be negotiated with the dockyard operator in advance of the commencement of each refit. The Vanguard class refitting programme is planned to commence around the turn of the century.