Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's Government Major Projects Portfolio Data 2022, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of delivering the Future Cruise / Anti-Ship Weapon programme (a) on time and (b) on budget in the context of the Independent Projects Authority's rating of that programme as red.

The delivery confidence of the Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon (FCASW) programme, which is currently in Assessment phase, was assessed as RED by the Senior Responsible Owner and this was confirmed at the programme's first Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) review in February 2022. Recommendations outlined in the IPA report have since been implemented and incorporated into the programme plan with support from across the Defence enterprise and in May 2022, a follow up review was completed by the IPA team where the delivery confidence assessment for FCASW programme outcomes (Performance, Cost and Time) was upgraded to AMBER.

As is standard Defence practice, the FCASW programme remains subject to regular review against delivery of performance, cost and time parameters by both internal and external independent bodies.