HL Deb 20 April 2004 vol 660 c23WA
Lord Dixon

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the "assessment phase" which they are currently carrying out for the new carrier programme will result in any delay in the proposed construction operation. [HL2331]

Lord Bach

Ministers are currently considering the output to date from the assessment phase, including proposals on when to proceed to the demonstration and manufacture phase. Our aim is to spend the right amount of time and money on assessment phase activity before taking a major capital investment, so that we can mitigate risks and seek to deliver the future aircraft carriers to their target delivery dates of 2012 and 2015.