§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will make a down select decision on the Future Carrier Programme; and if he will make a statement. [11452]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 30 October 2001]: We are currently in discussions about the CVF procurement strategy with both candidate prime contractors, BAE Systems and Thales Naval Ltd. We hope to be in a position to make an announcement about the way forward in the next few weeks.