HC Deb 13 July 1993 vol 228 c469W
Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the job totals he expects for 1995 and 2000 in naval base staff at Rosyth and Devonport.

Mr. Hanley

I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will explain the cost adjustment figure of £0.9 million for Rosyth in annex A of his consultative document on future arrangements for ship refitting in the royal dockyards.

Mr. Aitken

An adjustment was applied to the two estimates provided by Babcock Thorn Ltd. for its Rosyth proposals, which were expressed in January 1993 prices, to uprate them to March 1993 prices. This brought them in line with the estimate provided by Devonport Management Ltd., so that a like-for-like comparison of the proposals could be undertaken.

Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide a breakdown of the £134.3 million figure of capital costs for Rosyth and £120.6 million for Devonport in annex A of his consultative document on future arrangements for ship refitting in the Royal dockyards.

Mr. Aitken

The detailed composition of the proposals put forward by the companies are commercially confidential. However, as part of the overall assessment, the MOD's specialist advisers reviewed the Bills of Quantities submitted by the companies in support of their proposals, and we are confident that the proposals are realistic.