§ Mr. Yeoasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will state the cost of the Trident system, calculated at the current sterling-dollar exchange rate.
§ Mr. LeeAs stated by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 29 January (Columns 134–137) the current Trident estimate is £9,285 million at 1984–85 prices and at £1 = $1.38. $1.38 is the rate used by the Department for this year's recosting of the defence programme.
In view of the public interest in exchange rates, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has made available to the Select Committee on Defence the Public Accounts Committee an indication of the effects of changes in the exchange rates on programme costs, so that those wishing to predict the effect of possible exchange rate changes over the procurement period are able to do so. The following table shows the broad exchange rate effect of a 1 cent. change around the following alternative exchange rates:
$=£1 £ million 1.0 55 1.1 47 1.2 40 1.3 35 1.4 30 1.5 25 1.6 22 1.7 20 The above figures are based on the assumption that the chosen rate of exchange will remain constant throughout the life of the project.