Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the total cost to date of developing, maintaining and testing the UK's emergency alert system; and what plans they have for further tests.

The total cost to date of developing the technical architecture and systems which underpin the emergency alert programme, in addition to the first three years of operational delivery, will be a maximum of £25.3 million.

The contracts which are publicly available on contracts finder include:

1. The Government Digital Service have a contract with Fujitsu for £1.6 million per year for a three year period, a potential total of £5 million assuming that the contract runs to completion;

2. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (as was) issued contracts totalling £18.6 million to mobile network operators, as well as further spending on security testing and legal work.

The remaining costs were spent on security testing and legal fees. The specific figures are commercially sensitive and can therefore not be released to the public.

There are no current plans for a further UK-wide, or public, test of the system, though it is likely that there will be further public tests in the coming years to ensure the system is operational to help keep the British people safe.