Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent on plans for a new replacement warhead (a) prior to his written statement of 25 February 2020 and (b) to date.

As the replacement warhead is in its early preliminary phases it is too early at this stage to provide a cost estimate. I am however able to provide information relating to completed financial years. The Ministry of Defence spent £116 million up to the end of the financial year (2018-19). A total of £98 million was spent on the Replacement Warhead readiness phase over the subsequent two financial years (2019-20 and 2020-21).