§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence when the refitting work on Leander and Oberon vessels, scheduled for the private sector, will commence; and when he expects to announce the results of his study into comparative costs in private and public sectors.
§ Mr. LeeThe contract refits of Her Majesty's Ships Euryalus and Otter are due to commence by the end of the year. These will be compared with two similar refits to be conducted in the Royal dockyards. Final conclusions will not be reached until the longer of the two refits that of HMS Otter, has been completed and evaluated in relation to its dockyard comparator. The Otter refit will take about two years.