HC Deb 08 April 1998 vol 310 cc276-8W
Mr. Ainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 10 February 1998,Official Report, column 192, what is the total acreage, excluding foreshore, of the Pendine range. [37966]

Mr. Spellar

[holding answer 6 April 1998]: this is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 8 April 1998:

As Chief Executive of the Defence and Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), I have been asked to reply to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the area of the Pendine range.The total acreage, excluding foreshore, of the Pendine range is 2519 acres.I hope that this information is helpful.
Mr. Ainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list(a) the contracts awarded to COMAX by DERA, (b) the length of each contract, (c) the cost of each contract and (d) the number of staff employed on each contract; [37905]

(2) if he will list the contracts undertaken by COMAX at DERA Pendine, the number of staff employed on each contract and the cost of each contract in 1997–98 and 1998–99. [37906]

Mr. Spellar

[holding answer 6 April 1998]: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the chief Executive to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 8 April 1998:

As Chief Executive of the Defence and Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), I have been asked to reply to your questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about contracts awarded to COMAX by DERA and about contracts undertaken by COMAX at DERA Pendine.All DERA's business with Comax is awarded under a single "Umbrella Contract" which was placed on 25 April 1997. Most of the business is spread over 12 Service Level Agreements, nine of which are based on geographical regions and three of which are for pan-DERA services, as shown in the following table:

£ million
Service level agreement Period (from 25 April 1997) Cost
1. Farnborough Site Cluster 4 years 9 months 19.2
2. Boscombe Down Site Cluster 4 years 6 months 7.8
3. Porton Down Site Cluster 4 years 6.1
4. Fort Halstead Site Cluster 5 years 7.3
5. Chertsey Site Cluster 3 years 8.3
6. Portsdown West Site Cluster 5 years 7.0
7. Malvern Site Cluster 3 years 6 months 7.0
8. Ranges Site Cluster 4 years 3 months 10.3
9. Financial Services 5 years 3 months 7.7
10. Information Services 5 years 3 months 27.2
11. Supply Services 5 years 3 months 4.0
12. Farnborough Aerodrome Until 31 December 2000 unless sooner terminated by DERA by 6 months notice to expire on or after 31 December 1998 3.1
Total 115

Under the same Umbrella Contract, catalogued goods and services (for example, reprographics, car hire, consumable etc) were ordered totalling £13.1M. Separate contracts were also placed totalling £5.7M. These figures cannot easily be reconciled to the SLA locations. COMAX employs circa 1300 staff under the single Umbrella Contract.As far as DERA Pendine is concerned, COMAX provides contract services under the Service Level Agreement for the Ranges Site Cluster that covers 16 DERA ranges. The value of the Pendine element is approximately £1M. DERA has also placed a separate contract for demolition at Pendine valued at £104K. I understand that COMAX employs 14 direct staff on the Pendine site.I hope that this information is helpful.
Mr. Ainger

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the central administration costs allocated to DERA Pendine(a) for 1996–97, (b) for 1997–98 and (c) projected for 1998–99; [37907]

(2) what were the total central administrative costs of DERA in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 1997–98; and what are the projected costs for 1998–99. [37914]

Mr. Spellar

[holding answer 6 April 1998]: This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 8 April 1998:

As Chief Executive of the Defence and Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), I have been asked to reply to your questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about the central administrative costs of DERA and the central administrative costs allocated to DERA Pendine.The central administrative costs of DERA charged to business sectors are as follows:

£ million
1996/97 45.7
1997/98 37.2
1998/99 37.9

These costs include corporate management functions, services provided centrally such as finance, security, health and safety, personnel, contracts, marketing, quality, intellectual property and information systems, and charges incurred centrally on behalf of the whole Agency such as insurance, subscriptions and audit fees. The costs for 1996/97 also include those for divisional management (Defence Research Agency, Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation, Protection and Life Sciences Division and Centre for Defence Analysis) which were abolished as a result of the reorganisation on 1 April 1997.The amount of the DERA central administration charge allocated to Pendine for each year is as follows:

£000
1996/97 258.9
1997/98 274.6

The allocation in the budget for 1998/99 is £169.3K.

As well as these central administrative charges, there are additional administrative charges allocated by the Ranges Sector itself, as follows:

£000
1996/97 103.6
1997/98 1142.6
1998/99 2213.0
1Based on the forecast for accounting period 11
2 Budget

I hope that this information is helpful.