§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the present expected profile of expenditure on Trident; and if he will express the estimated expenditure in each year as a percentage of (a) total projected defence spending and (b) the projected new equipment budget.
§ Mr. ButlerIt is not the practice to give cost profiles for projects on a year by year basis. Trident, over its procurement period, will account on average for about 3 per cent. of the defence budget and about 6 per cent. of the equipment budget, rising to 6 per cent. and 11 per cent., respectively, for the peak years of the programme. 431W Because of the difficulties of defining "new equipments", the Department no longer analyses expenditure on this basis.