§ Mr. CartwrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the impact on the future staffing of the directorate general of defence quality assurance of his Department's decision to rely on NACCB—National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies—certification rather than carrying out its own routine assessments of potential contractors.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThe contractor assessment branch has been disbanded and the work has been passed 307W to DGDQA's regional directors. The number of full-time staff engaged on assessment has been reduced from 60 to 30 and it is expected that a further 10 full-time posts will be saved. DGDQA staff will continue to assess contractors' capabilities where access to highly classified records or material is involved or where no NACCB accredited organisation is able to cover the full scope of the contractor's work.