Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

National Flagship: Procurement

Monday 5 July 2021 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The capital costs of building the national flagship would be met from the defence budget over a number of years.
  • The costs and the profile of the national flagship will have greater clarity once market engagement is completed.
  • The Ministry of Defence has received a 24 billion provision, which has helped to ensure affordability for defence projects.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kevan Jones Lab
Defence
Context

Inquiry about the capital costs associated with building a national flagship and whether these will be funded from the Ministry of Defence's existing budget.

Question

Whether the procurement costs for the proposed national flagship will be drawn from his Department's existing budget allocation. That is very interesting. I am not sure whether I should be asking this question of the Minister rather than the Prime Minister. Can he explain, then, what else in the defence budget will give to pay the £200 million that the Prime Minister announced?

Answer from Jeremy Quin

The capital costs of building the national flagship would accrue over a number of years and will be met from the defence budget. We are delighted to be playing our part in delivering this first-rate asset, which will be a tremendous boost to the UK and global Britain. We should recognise that we will have greater clarity on the costs and the profile of that when we have completed our market engagement. The prior information notice has just gone out. To put it in a helpful context for the right hon. Gentleman, over four years we are talking about an impact on the overall defence budget in the region of 0.1%.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific details on how other priorities will be affected or where exactly within the budget the funding will come from

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Q2 Kevan Jones Lab
Defence
Context

Concerns about the financial impact of the Prime Minister's £200 million announcement on other defence priorities.

Question

That is very interesting. I am not sure whether I should be asking this question of the Minister rather than the Prime Minister. Can he explain, then, what else in the defence budget will give to pay the £200 million that the Prime Minister announced?

Answer from Jeremy Quin

We are delighted to be playing our part in delivering this first-rate asset, which will be a tremendous boost to the UK and global Britain. We should recognise that we will have greater clarity on the costs and the profile of that when we have completed our market engagement. The prior information notice has just gone out. To put it in a helpful context for the right hon. Gentleman, over four years we are talking about an impact on the overall defence budget in the region of 0.1%.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific details or commitments about how other priorities will be affected by this funding decision.

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Q3 Chris Evans Labour (Co-op) Caerphilly
Defence
Context

The National Audit Office has deemed the Defence Equipment Plan unaffordable for the fourth year in a row, with well-publicised issues such as rising costs of the Ajax project and cancellation of Warrior.

Question

With the National Audit Office having judged the defence equipment plan to be “unaffordable” for the fourth year in a row, the continuing well-publicised disaster and rising cost of the Ajax project, and the cancellation of Warrior, can the Minister explain why this vanity project has become a spending priority for the Ministry of Defence?

Answer from Jeremy Quin

I am delighted to help the hon. Gentleman on a few points. First, on the NAO report to which he refers, I believe that was done on the old numbers prior to a very fulsome provision to the Ministry of Defence of £24 billion being spent from the current levels. That has helped us to ensure that we can deliver the right priorities for this country in the future. On Ajax. I am pleased to reassure him that that is a firm price contract. As to Warrior, that is one example of the tough decisions we make to ensure that the budget comes in on balance, and we will continue to do so. That is the target of the Secretary of State and myself.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific reasons or justifications for prioritizing certain projects despite affordability issues; instead focused on reassurance without concrete details.

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