§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the long-term costings for the equipment programme. [172741]
§ Mr. IngramThe detailed financial data and planning assumptions about the proposed content and timing of the future equipment programme form part of internal advice to Ministers on the overall affordability of the defence programme and of individual projects at the time they come forward for approval. This information therefore anticipates decisions still to be taken by Ministers. In parts it also contains information which is commercially sensitive. I am therefore withholding such information under Exemptions 2 and 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Information is, however, routinely made available on a range of major equipment projects, which together form the substantial part of the Department's forward equipment programme, for example in support of the PAC's annual Major Projects Report and the HCDC's annual inquiry into defence procurement. This detail is set in broader context by the publication every two years of the Department's overarching Defence Investment Strategy.