Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to MOD Government Major Projects Portfolio Data, 2022, which aspiration projects were not included in the Spending Review proposition and as part of the re-baselining exercise, leading to whole life costs for the Defence Estate Optimisation increasing by £4.127 billion.

The capital investment for Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) has not increased. The Spending Review secured the method of funding for DEO, it did not see the capital investment budget increase.

Aspirational projects by their nature are unfunded proposals that are still to be assessed, and therefore were not included in the DEO Spending Review proposition which was to secure funding for costed Defence priority projects.