Royal Ordnance (Hansard, 2 March 1999)

§ Mr. Maples
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his assessment of the risk to UK armed forces' safety and capability of having no UK-based manufacturer 659W of ammunition and rocket propellant after closure of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Bishopton. [73391]

§ Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 26 February 1999] All explosive products require Ordnance Board qualification before they can be considered safe and suitable for use by the Armed Forces. We do not foresee any difficulty in obtaining Ordnance Board qualification for products using propellant sourced from friendly and reliable countries in Europe and further afield. Military capability is a question not of where the product comes from, but of the adequacy of supply arrangements. The Government ensure that satisfactory security supply arrangements are in place for the procurement of all key equipments and their components.

§ Mr. Edwards
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about progress towards a best supplier agreement between his Department and Royal Ordnance. [73648]

§ Mr. Spellar
[holding answer 26 February 1999] Under the Smart Procurement Initiative developed as part of the Strategic Defence Review, MOD is reviewing its relationships with all its suppliers to ensure that the relationship is of mutual benefit to each party. Where appropriate, this includes examining the potential for establishing preferred supplier arrangements. For British Aerospace, and Royal Ordnance in particular, we are looking into the ways by which Royal Ordnance could become the preferred MOD supplier for a number of types of ammunition, where the company has shown through competition, that it can offer a cost effective product.

§ Mr. Edwards
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the future of the Royal Ordnance Plant, Glascoed. [73546]

§ Mr. Spellar
The Royal Ordnance factory at Glascoed is a major recipient of work stemming from the award to Royal Ordnance in December 1998 of the £100 million large calibre training ammunition multi year buy. While the future of Glascoed is a matter for the company, the terms governing the sale of the Royal Ordnance Factories to British Aerospace require the Ministry of Defence to be informed of any intention by the company to relinquish any major asset.