The government has no plans to publish whole-life nuclear weapons cost forecasts, citing national security, while the Defence Investment Plan provides £63.6 billion for the Defence Nuclear Enterprise between 2026-27 and 2029-30, according to Lord Coaker.
Baroness Blower, a Labour peer, asked whether whole-life forecasts of nuclear weapons costs and the proportion of the defence budget spent on nuclear weapons would appear in future annual updates.
Lord Coaker, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, replied: “The Defence Investment Plan provides for £63.6 billion of investment in the Defence Nuclear Enterprise between 2026-27 and 2029-30. The Government does not publish detailed spending figures or forecasts relating to nuclear weapons or wider defence nuclear capabilities for national security reasons. Accordingly, there are no plans to include such information in future DNE Annual Updates or other public reporting. High-level financial information will continue to be published through departmental financial reporting.”
Baroness Blower also asked what assessment had been made of public understanding of the deterrent and what funding had gone to public engagement on nuclear policy in each of the last three years. Lord Coaker replied: “The Ministry of Defence assesses public understanding of the UK’s nuclear deterrent through polling and evaluation of its communications activity. While public support for the nuclear deterrent remains high, polling indicates there is scope to increase public awareness of the nuclear deterrent, including the programme to build new submarines and replace the UK’s warheads. The Ministry of Defence engages the public through the National Endeavour communications campaign, which aims to improve understanding of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise and its contribution to national security and economic growth. As a Government Communication Service low/no-cost campaign, no specific funding has been allocated to it for public engagement on nuclear policy.”
Jeremy Pocklington, the department’s Permanent Secretary, told the Public Accounts Committee in March that the Defence Nuclear Enterprise is on course to take “between about 20% and 25%” of the overall budget, the UK Defence Journal reported, after about £10.9 billion, or 18 per cent, in 2024-25.
A new Commons-only committee appointed by the Prime Minister will scrutinise spending and programmes across the enterprise, according to the annual update on Strategic Defence Review recommendations published in September. The update said the aim is to give the public “the confidence that taxpayer money is being spent wisely on this critical area.”
Of course not, as it is eating Defence alive and HMT won’t want it sent back from MoD core budget.
One day the Defence Budget will be wholly consumed by the CASD/DNE, what happens after that?
It’s almost as if they don’t want the costs of anything coming out isn’t it?
There are some things it is fine to share. This is not one of them. Silly question.