§ Baroness Carnegy of Lourasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the role of the Defence Industries Council, who sits on it, and when it last met.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Viscount Cranborne)The role of the National Defence Industries Council (NDIC) is to provide a focus for regular consultation between the Ministry of Defence and industry on questions of defence supply and procurement of mutual concern; and to define areas of profitable consultation and study, and the appropriate machinery to be used in each case. It is chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence, and the members are Ministers and senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Trade and Industry, and senior industrialists from major defence suppliers and trade associations. The NDIC last met in July 1992.
The industry members of the NDIC meet separately as the Defence Industries Council. My department is not informed of its meetings.