§ Mr. John BrowneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the latest estimate of the cost of the Trident programme; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. YoungerI am pleased to announce that for the third year running I am able to report a reduction in the estimated costs of the Trident programme. The revised estimate at average 1988–89 prices is £9,089 million. The estimate is based on the exchange rate of £1=$1.76 used for the current long-term costing of the defence programme. The forecast proportion of the programme to be undertaken in the United Kingdom has risen to 68 per132W cent., the highest level so far. After allowing for the effects of inflation and exchange rate variations, the new estimate represents a real reduction of some £104 million compared with last year's estimate and a real reduction of £1,051 million compared with the original 1982 estimate, over and above the savings of some £784 million resulting from the decision to have United Kingdom missiles processed in the United States facility at King's bay, Georgia.
The Select Committee on Defence previously asked that when announcing the annual revised estimate I should report on the state of the project as a whole. I am pleased to say that the project remains on programme to enter service as planned in the mid-1990s. There has been no slippage in the in-service date since the decision to proceed with Trident II was announced in March 1982. I am, as in past years, sending to the Chairmen of the Select Committee on Defence and the Public Accounts Committee a more detailed report covering the progress of the various elements of the Trident programme. I am also placing a copy of the report in the Library of the House.