§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether additional costs have arisen, and further costs are expected to arise, from temporary accommodation for the Joint Services Combined Staff College, from refurbishing the original accommodation at Greenwich, and from moving the reactor and reactor training away from Greenwich.
§ Lord GilbertThe Consultation Document placed in the Library of the House on 5 March 1996 indicated that the cost of establishing the necessary interim accommodation for the Joint Services' Command and Staff College was some £11.45 million. The work is currently on course for completion by September 1997, on time and at a cost of under £10 million. When Greenwich accommodation is vacated, the Government, as the outgoing occupant, are obliged to fund dilapidations rather than refurbishment. Such costs would also have been incurred had MoD remained at Greenwich. Investment appraisals over a 14-year period have shown that the costs of decommissioning JASON are more than counterbalanced by the savings attributable to the relocation of the Department of Nuclear Science and Technology to HMS "Sultan", instead of maintaining it, and JASON, at Greenwich.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What would now be the cost of developing appropriate accommodation for the Joint Services Combined Staff College (JSCSC) at the present JSCSC property at Greenwich Palace and in the immediate neighbourhood.
§ Lord GilbertI am advised that, when the various options for the future Joint Services' Command and Staff College were considered in early 1995, (the Consultative Document published in January 1995 refers), the Greenwich-based option at £256.0 million Net Present Value over 25 years (subsequently revised to £253.9 million, both in 1994–95 prices), was some 25 per cent. higher than the Camberley option, which then became the basis for the Public Sector Comparator in the PFI competition. A detailed reassessment of the cost of a Greenwich option would be time-consuming and costly and could not be justified at this stage. However, using an index for general defence inflation to uprate the £253.9 million to current costs gives a figure of approximately £289.4 million. Under this option the teaching and single living accommodation148WA would have been at Greenwich, but married accommodation at Biggin Hill and possibly even Chatham would have been needed.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Strategic Defence Review will include a re-examination of the decision to build a new £500 million home for the Joint Services Combined Staff College in a green-field site in South Oxfordshire.
§ Lord GilbertThe provision of a new JSCSC by means of a competitive PFI procurement is one of the MoD's highest priorities. The requirement for high quality Command and Staff training and the importance we attach to increasing the opportunities for joint training will not be affected by the Strategic Defence Review. Since their selection as preferred bidders in February, negotiations have continued with Defence Management regarding their proposals for a permanent JSCSC at Shrivenham. A contract will be placed as soon as negotiations can be satisfactorily completed.