§ Lord Campbell of Allowayasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it has any further announcement to make about the future of the National Engineering Laboratory.
§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Lord Young of Graffham)Following the withdrawal of YARD Ltd. from negotiations to acquire NEL, I have concluded that some restructuring is likely to be necessary over the next two years in order to achieve successful privatisation as soon as practicable. To this end, Touche Ross Management Consultants have been commissioned to undertake a detailed study of the laboratory (to be completed by 15th April 1989), to plan the restructuring and the way forward towards privatisation. The study will examine those of NEL's activities which will continue to be needed to support government functions as well as identifying any scope for involvement of higher education institutions, for example by creating a Technology Centre. It will look at the scope for future development of the NEL site in order to reduce overheads and attract additional employment. Finally, the study will advise whether there are programmes within NEL for which there is no current or future government need and which receive inadequate industrial support. The terms of reference of the study have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
To assist the restructuring study and its implementation, I intend to appoint a supervisory board including some members drawn from industry and commerce. The board's role will be non-statutory and advisory and it is expected that it will be appointed for 18 months with a possibility of subsequent extension. The names of those to be appointed to the supervisory board will be announced shortly.
The study is likely to contain commercially sensitive information and it is unlikely that it will be published.