HC Deb 19 October 1998 vol 317 cc890-1W
Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost to(a) United Kingdom public funds and (b) each of the two tri-national consortiums of the UK's participation in the Trimilsatcom collaborative programme with France and Germany; and what were the equivalent costs to (i) France and (ii) Germany. [55472]

Mr. Spellar

Expenditure by the UK Ministry of Defence on work specifically associated with Trimilsatcom initiative has amounted to approximately £3.0M. Of this sum, approximately £2.7M was spent on studies, and the information obtained will be utilised on future stages of the UK Skynet 5 national programme. The balance of the money was spent on the Joint Programme Office which was set up in Paris to manage the programme. While no definitive information is available, it is believed that expenditure by both France and Germany will have been of similar magnitude. The MOD has no knowledge of the expenditure by the two trinational consortia in support of their commercial bids for the project.

Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the cost of his decision not to enter the project definition stage of the Trimilsatcom collaborative programme with France and Germany. [55471]

Mr. Spellar

The cost to the UK of its decision not to enter the project definition stage of the Trimilsatcom collaborative programme with France and Germany is limited to those administrative costs associated with the Joint Programme Office, JPO, in Paris, which was set up to manage the project. These costs are currently estimated to be approximately £0.3M, of which approximately £33k is attributable to the UK's share of the direct costs of winding up the JPO.