Joint Service Command and Staff College (Hansard, 6 February 1996)

§ Mr. Soames

The creation of a joint service command and staff college is a key element in our policy to encourage a more joint service approach to defence issues. It will open, as planned, in September 1997. Major General T. J. Granville-Chapman will be its first commandant, and he will assume responsibility for the project in June 1996.

We shall close the joint service defence college and royal naval staff college at Greenwich, the Army staff college at Camberley and the RAF staff college at Bracknell, in 1997. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence said in his answer to the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Clifton-Brown) on 19 December 1995, Official Report column 1107, he has appointed an advisory group to give him advice on the future of the royal naval college at Greenwich. A final decision is not expected until the summer.

The works programme for the new college cannot be completed by September 1997. We are therefore making arrangements for the JSCSC to operate initially at a temporary location, probably at RAF Bracknell. A final decision on the interim site is subject to formal appraisal and consultation. We intend to dispose of the Bracknell site by the end of 1999.

The work so far has shown that Camberley is the most cost-effective and appropriate Ministry of Defence site for the college. We shall be seeking proposals for private sector involvement in the provision of high-quality accommodation—including infrastructure and residential accommodation—associated facilities management for a range of services, and possibly civilian academic support. In exploring the opportunities for private finance, imaginative proposals involving an alternative site that meet our requirements are not ruled out.

Formal consultations with the trade unions and other interested parties will take place before any final decision on the JSCSC is made.