§ 29. Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is regarding the transfer of Royal Air Force equipment to new DERA following privatisation. [148246]
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§ Mr. HoonI refer the hon. Member to the announcement I nu de in the House on 24 July 2000,Official Report, columns 777–89, about our decision to proceed with the implementation of the Core Competence model for the DER A public-private partnership. Under Core Competence, wound three-quarters of the current DERA organisation will be turned into a company, referred to as new DERA. For strategic reasons, the remainder will be retained within the Ministry of Defence to carry out functions that could not appropriately be transferred to the private sector.
At the present time no firm decision has been made as to exactly which assets currently held by DERA will be transferred to the new company. If, however, the equipment is RAF owned and on loan to DERA then it will retain that status and be issued to the new company under normal contractual arrangements.