Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate his Department has made of the cost of the trim and compensation system for the Dreadnought programme; and whether that estimate is an increase on previously made estimates.

Costs of individual systems on Dreadnought are managed within the programme's overall £31 billion budget, which is funded by Defence. I am withholding details of the cost of this system as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial discussions and interests.