Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 87744 on Navy: Training, whether he expects to recover any payments made by his Department to Elbit Systems UK as part of Project Selborne following the departure of the company from the programme.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly reviews its capability programmes. As the result of a recent review, the MOD is in discussion with Elbit Systems UK about their departure from submarine training in the Project Selborne contract and has already agreed the company's departure from Dreadnought Crew Training contract. This has not happened because of any specific issues with Elbit Systems UK or any wrongdoing on their part but rather a result of applying revised operational sovereignty standards for the UK's highest priority capabilities.

Money paid to Elbit Systems UK has been for delivering training and running simulators, and for development costs for new software and simulators. Should Elbit Systems UK depart from Project Selborne or constituent parts of it, this work will be transferred to the prime contractor or a replacement supplier for continued delivery.

Therefore there is no requirement to discuss any recovery of payments already made to Elbit Systems UK, who remain an important and trusted partner across a range of contracts in Defence.