§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence why the post of chief of defence equipment collaboration is being allowed to lapse at the end of the current year; and what policy changes will follow from the abandonment of the post.
§ Mr. YoungerAs announced to the House on 19 December 1984, at columns205–6, Sir David Perry was appointed chief of defence equipment collaboration so that he could give himself full time to promoting international collaboration in weapons procurement. Thanks to Sir David, international collaboration has now become an essential and critical part of our procurement strategy, and we have decided that its further pursuit can best be managed as part of our regular procurement work in the Ministry of Defence. It will therefore become part of the responsibilities of the Procurement Executive headed by the chief of defence procurment. No policy changes are involved in this adjustment; the United Kingdom remains fully committed to collaboration with allied nations in weapons procurement.
Sir David Perry will retire on 31 December 1987, and I should like to pay tribute to his long career of public service, and to the distinction with which he discharged the duties of his final appointment.