Operations West (Hansard, 19 July 1993)

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures he is taking to ensure that if Operations West is run by a contractor(a) in the event of 85W the failure of the contractors, the operation can be brought back into his Department and (b) where the contractor buys the site and equipment that his Department or other contractors will be able to compete for a successor contract.

§ Mr. Aitken
The contract contains provisions against failure on the part of the contractor, ranging from financial penalties to cancellation of the contract. The site is to be leased rather than sold; the lease will end if the service contract is terminated. Title to the computer equipment will remain with my Department for the duration of the service contract.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are being taken to ensure that the investment appraisal model which will be used for the market testing exercise at Operations West(a) conforms to the latest management accounting rules and (b) includes the cost of transferring staff to other posts who do not wish to work for the successful contractors.

§ Mr. Aitken
Prior to the market test, the Operations West market testing project team was advised on an investment appraisal model format which conformed to the latest management accounting rules. Under the provisions of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, my Department has no obligation to find alternative employment for staff who do not wish to transfer to a contractor. It was therefore assumed, for the purposes of comparing bids, that no staff would be transferred elsewhere in the MoD.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why he is proposing to contractorise the Ministry of Defence Guard Service at Operations West; and what support his Department is giving to the in-house bid for Operations West.

§ Mr. Aitken
Following the market testing of the service undertaken by Operations West, it has been decided that the whole of the undertaking, including the guard service, should be contractorised as this offers the best value for money. The in-house bid was fully resourced and supported by expert consultants.

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are being taken to ensure that the successful contractor who takes over Operations West under the current market testing exercise will be able to ensure(a) the security of personal information relating to his Department's staff held on the computer system and (b) the security and commercial confidentiality of information held on the press system.

§ Mr. Aitken
The security standards applicable to Operations West have not changed. The security policy which will be implemented at the site will be the same as that which applied when the site was operated by my Department. Contractors employed on defence work are required, as a condition of contract, to safeguard information to which they might have access in the course of their work, and to adhere to security requirements and procedures laid down by my Department.