§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he makes of the balance of consideration between competitive tendering and social policy when placing warship contracts.
§ Mr. LeeOur policy is to place warship contracts, wherever practicable, by competitive tendering. The primary considerations in evaluating tenders are costs and performance, but account can also be taken of other relevant factors.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy towards privatised British warship yards competing for types of work currently carried out in British naval dockyards.
§ Mr. LeeThe Royal dockyards currently carry out the bulk of the Royal Navy's warship refitting requirements. In their defence open government documents, entitled "The future of the Royal Dockyards", published on 17 April, the Government, in setting out the options for the future management of the dockyards, expressed their intention to open up more warship refit work to competition in future. It would be up to the privatised British warship yards to decide whether they were interested in bidding for such work. For their part, the Government would seek to enourage as wide a competition as possible from suitable firms.