Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of recent trends in inflation rates on (a) the total lifetime cost of and (b) expenditure over the next five financial years on the Trident renewal programme.

The Dreadnought submarine programme remains within overall budget and on track for the first of class, HMS Dreadnought, to enter service in the early 2030s.

Inflation has remained higher than expected for an extended period and had an adverse impact on the cost forecasts for this programme when compared to the forecasts from a year earlier.

As the programme is in its preliminary phases, it is too early to provide cost estimates for the replacement warhead programme.