Recommendation 11

The Department said that nine DNE programmes have whole-life costs of more than £10 billion, including three submarine programmes, maintaining the existing warhead and designing its replacement, and building complex infrastructure facilities at three sites.25 The Department stated that the cost of Dreadnought, which is due to enter service in the early 2030s as the replacement for the UK’s current nuclear-armed submarines, currently remains within its £41 billion budget (including a £10 billion contingency), and undertook to update Parliament if that changes. However, the Department was unable to provide clear information about other DNE programmes, including the range of activities they cover, what their costs are and how these have changed over time.26