§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the estimated cost of building HMS Albion and Bulwark was; what their initial expected in-service date with the Royal Navy was; what his estimate of their actual building cost is; whether any additional cost will be met by the Government; and if he will make a statement. [102415]
§ Mr. IngramThe maximum estimated cost to the Ministry of Defence at contract award of the Landing Platform Dock (Replacement) programme was £819 million, including the associated landing craft; the current estimated cost to the MOD is £790 million. The Prime Contractor has reported losses on the LPD(R) programme but there will be no additional costs to the MOD under the contract. It would not be appropriate to disclose an estimate of the actual cost to the Prime Contractor as the extent of their cost overrun is780W commercially confidential; I am therefore withholding this information under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
The planned in-service dates were originally March 2002 for HMS Albion and March 2003 for HMS Bulwark.