Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department's budget has been of the use of HMS Enterprise in the Mediterranean.

HMS ENTERPRISE is currently based in the Mediterranean Sea in support of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy Operation, which remains ongoing. For this period of activity the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will receive the net additional costs of the use of HMS ENTERPRISE, from the Deployed Military Activity Pool (DMAP). In line with established HM Treasury policy the MOD recovers only the net additional costs of an activity from the DMAP, which are those costs that the department would not have incurred but for undertaking that activity. As such, the use of HMS ENTERPRISE in the Mediterranean is cost neutral to the defence budget.