§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors led to the removal of the atomic weapons establishment, Foulness from the list of bodies given trading status by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency Trading Fund Order 1995. [34862]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe atomic weapons establishment, Foulness is not part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. It forms part of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, whose headquarters are at Aldermaston, Berkshire, and which is managed by Hunting BRAE plc on behalf of my Department. Rationalisation plans, announced in January 1995, are for AWE to withdraw from Foulness and for the site to be transferred to the DERA during 1997.
The inclusion of Foulness in the list of bodies to which the operation of the Defence Research Agency trading fund was extended by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency Trading Fund Order 1995 was premature. Subsequent legal advice was that for as long as the site remains managed by Hunting BRAE plc it is not legally possible for it to be included in the order. It was therefore necessary to lay before the House an amendment order, SI 1447 1996.