§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of cancelling the planned refit of HMS Spartan at Rosyth. [52737]
§ Mr. George Robertson[holding answer 28 July 1998]: We estimate that the irrecoverable costs which would have arisen from the cancellation of HMS Spartan at Rosyth would have amounted to about £60 million. In addition, we estimate that the cost of reimbursing Babcock Rosyth Defence Limited, the owners of the Dockyard, for their redundancy costs would have been about £30 million.