Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of reverting AWE to a direct Government ownership model.

The change in governance removes the current commercial arrangements, enhancing the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) agility in the future management of the UK’s nuclear deterrent. The benefit of AWE plc becoming an Arms-Length Body, wholly owned by the MOD, will mean that there will be no fee or profit payments.

The action taken by the MOD to trigger the Termination for Convenience clause will not incur any penalty cost.