HC Deb 15 October 2002 vol 390 cc548-50W
Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost of procuring Trident missiles from the United States has been in each year since the procurement contract was initiated. [73558]

Dr. Moonie

The cost of procuring the Trident II (unarmed) missiles from the US under the Polaris Sales Agreement (as amended for Trident) has been as follows:

Financial Year Amount £M
1980–81 0.023
1981–82 4.012
1982–83 8.471
1983–84 2.164
1984–85 2.009
1985–86 2.015
1986–87 0.308
1987–88 5.083
1988–89 7.368
1989–90 16.885
1990–91 28.800
1991–92 71.936
1992–93 108.132
1993–94 279.714
1994–95 188.299
1995–96 68.781
1996–97 48.140
1997–98 86.647
1998–99 79.264
1999–2000 71.524
2000–2001 53.223

Notes:

1. The final figure for 2001–2002 is not yet available.

2. Figures given are gross payments and do not take account of the credits due to the UK under the 1998 MOU to reduce the overall missile buy in accordance with SDR. These affect 2000–2001 onwards.

3. The costs cover only production costs as the UK paid no development costs for the missiles.

Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Dr Tonge) of 8 July,Official Report, column 714W, on nuclear missile defence, whether the collaborative research and information exchange will involve nuclear-based technology. [73699]

Mr. Hoon

There are no plans for this work to involve nuclear-based technologies.

Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total cost of deploying British personnel in the United States as a result of(a) the United Kingdom purchase of nuclear weapons from the United States, (b) the United Kingdom testing of nuclear weapons in the United States and (c) other logistical requirements, including C3 expertise, of procuring nuclear weapons from the United States has been since 1972. [73559]

Mr. Ingram

The United Kingdom does not purchase nuclear weapons from the United States. Article 1 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons forbids all nuclear weapon states from supplying nuclear weapons to any other state.

The remainder of the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence under which budget headings the projected expenditure on(a) the Trident programme, (b) Nuclear Warhead Stability Review, (c) nuclear waste disposal, (d) nuclear site security and (e) remediation of radioactively contaminated land and buildings on defence nuclear sites, as listed in tables 1 to 6 of CM 5412, Ministry of Defence Expenditure Plans 2002–04, published on 9 July, will be placed. [73569]

Mr. Ingram

Projected expenditure on items(a)—(e) falls under "Provision of Defence Capability" for the Ministry of Defence Resource Budget (of which part is counted against the MOD's Departmental Expenditure Limit and part against non-cash items in Annually Managed Expenditure). Projected expenditure on items (a), (c), (d) and (e) also falls under "Provision of Defence Capability" for the MOD Capital Budget.

The majority of this projected expenditure (both Resource and Capital) falls within three of our Top Level Budgets; Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Chief of Defence Logistics and Defence Procurement Agency. However additional projected Resource expenditure also falls within Land Command, RAF Strike Command and the Central Top Level Budget for item (d).

A wide range of assets is also employed in support of these activities, covering most of the categories in Table 4.