To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his timetable is for reducing the number of Trident warheads to below 160. (164136)

The December 2006 White Paper: The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994) announced a further reduction in our holdings of operationally available nuclear warheads, in line with the UK’s commitment to maintain only the minimum necessary deterrent. I can confirm that we have now reduced the number of operationally available warheads from fewer than 200 to fewer than 160.