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Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft

Volume 472: debated on Tuesday 4 March 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much it has cost to establish the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft private finance initiative in each year since 1999; (189271)

(2) what estimates have been made of the total costs of the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft; how much it has cost to check the value of a private finance initiative against a public sector comparator; and what the cost has been of the auction and negotiations with the preferred bidder.

The Whole Life Cost of the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft PFI programme is currently estimated to be around £13 billion. To date, the Department has incurred expenditure of approximately £47.5 million in conducting the Assessment Phase, including the internal running costs of the DE and S Integrated Project Team. The following table shows this expenditure by financial year.

Assessment Phase (£ million)

2000-01

1.05

2001-02

4.01

2002-03

14.10

2003-04

5.03

2004-05

4.20

2005-06

6.46

2006-07

6.83

2007-081

5.84

Total

47.51

1 Reflects 2007-08 expenditure to January 2008