Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made in publishing the unclassified public version of the UK AUKUS review report by Sir Stephen Lovegrove.

Sir Stephen Lovegrove submitted his classified report at the end of 2024. A version was also shared with the US and Australian governments, both of which have conducted their own reviews of AUKUS over the past 18 months. In order to protect the confidentiality of inputs received from US and Australian contributors and others consulted during the review, it was decided that it would not be appropriate to publish the report. This is consistent with the approach taken by the US and Australian governments in their reviews.

The government accepted the recommendations made by Sir Stephen and he has made a number of public appearances since then in which he has set out his headline findings and the actions being taken in response. They include measures to underpin delivery of the “Optimal Pathway” by accelerating production across the UK Submarine Industrial Base; to jointly clarify and focus the pursuit of Advanced Capabilities under Pillar II; and to strengthen the UK’s cross-government leadership and co-ordination arrangements across both pillars. The associated actions are all either complete or well underway.

The government has also made a landmark £6bn investment in the UK Submarine Industrial Base to drive an 18 month submarine production drumbeat. The Prime Minister has been clear that the UK is "all in" on delivering against our AUKUS commitments and that he regards it as a strategic partnership which is fundamental to the UK's NATO-first approach and to Trans-Atlantic burden-sharing.