§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the decision to use a conventional procurement route for the primary casualty receiving ship was made; and if he will make a statement. [99801]
§ Mr. IngramThe decision was taken at the end of 2002. Our working assumption had been that some form of private sector involvement would be beneficial. A series of studies, however, demonstrated the absence of a private market for such a ship's facilities and also that a service-provision contract would be incompatible with the operational requirement.