To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the estimate in the 2006 Defence White Paper that running costs of the proposed future deterrent would represent 5 to 6 per cent. of the defence budget included the costs of (a) conventional forces supporting the deterrent and (b) decommissioning replacement submarines. (277761)

The estimate of the running costs contained within the White Paper does not include an allocation for those occasions when conventional forces are used to support the deterrent but does include the initial decommissioning costs for the replacement submarines.