Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q62 of the oral evidence by Lt General Sir Robert Magowan to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when he plans to make a decision on the potential cancellation of procurement contracts.

The assumptions for the Department's costs and budget over the next 10 years are uncertain, so we are developing plans for different scenarios. It would be precipitous to cancel programmes now.

To reduce the risk to value for money, the Department is monitoring levels of contractually committed spend carefully and continues to operate a robust approvals framework to ensure new commitments do not constrain our ability to reduce costs in the future or to choose to fund different capabilities.