Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the value is of the spending commitments that the Office for Nuclear Regulation has been authorised to make as part of the project to establish a UK State System for Accountability and Control of nuclear material.

The Department will allocate to the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) the funding necessary to establish the UK State System of Accountancy for, and Control of, nuclear materials, which meets international standards for nuclear safeguards ahead of 29^th March 2019. As explained in the explanatory notes of the Nuclear Safeguards Bill republished on 24 January 2018 when the Bill was brought to the House of Lords, the necessary funding is estimated at potentially up to £10 million. As the first part of this funding, the Department has secured a contingencies fund advance to the amount of £2.275 million to provide financial cover to the ONR for its project activities until the end of financial year 2017-18.