§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has to re-assess the use of market testing, privatisation, compulsory competitive tendering, and contractorisation in modification work on RAF combat aircraft; and what proposals he has to include RAF in-house tenders in all such combat aircraft modification work.
§ Mr. AitkenI have no plans to reassess these programmes which are intended to achieve better value for money from defence expenditure. It remains our policy to contractorise work which could be done by industry where it is cost effective to do so in a way that fully meets our requirements; we will encourage in-house bids where appropriate. We continue to place a heavy emphasis on ensuring that work carried out by contractors meets our exacting quality standards, and we will take firm action where we judge that this is not the case.