§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total cost to the Exchequer including subsidy and post-acceptance refit costs, of(a) AOR1 and (b) AOR2.
§ Mr. FreemanThe total cost to the end of December 1994 to my Department, including post-acceptance rectification work, is £131.130 million and £159.460 million (actual prices) for AOR 01 and AOR 02 respectively. Final costs for both vessels have still to be agreed. An independent assessment of Harland and Wolff s bid for AOR 01 concluded that the bid contained no element of subsidy. Neither was there any element of subsidy in Swan Hunter's bid for AOR 02. The Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development made payments of £53 million to Harland and Wolff as part of the yard's privatisation. These payments were tied to progress in completing AOR 01.