Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the expected annual (a) current and (b) capital expenditure on the new polar research vessel will be in each financial year of that project; and if he will place that information in the House of Commons Library.

The new polar research vessel was named Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough in 2019 and came into service in 2021. Annual operating costs are in the region of £20 million. The ship is operated by the British Antarctic Survey a wholly owned research centre of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). All UKRI’s budget is considered capital in the national accounts.