Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Rejected
MoD prioritises swift delivery of nuclear programmes to de-risk and limit long-term costs.
Conclusion
Maintaining the nuclear deterrent remains the MoD’s highest defence priority. This year’s Plan is the first time that the MoD has set out its nuclear budget separately from other defence spending.35 The MoD has sought to de-risk and limit the long-term costs of its nuclear programmes by prioritising their quicker delivery over immediate cost constraints.36
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's observation regarding the nuclear budget, stating that speculating on future funding shifts from conventional to nuclear is unhelpful for planning, and nuclear funding is ringfenced.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
3.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 3.2 The Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) comprises a range of interdependent programmes to support, maintain and renew the United Kingdom’s independent nuclear deterrent as well as the decommissioning and disposal activities for defence nuclear capabilities when they leave service. Funding for these programmes is ringfenced within the defence budget with a contingency fund for the Dreadnought submarine programme also available in year. 3.3 If the conventional equipment plan budget is impacted by the need to provide additional funding for the nuclear equipment plan, then the department will make that clear. However, the department believes that to go further and hypothesise on whether there might be a requirement in the future to move funding from the conventional into the nuclear equipment plan would be wholly speculative and would not be a useful basis for planning.