§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have for the future management of the Royal Dockyards at Devonport and Rosyth.
Viscount CranborneThe Royal Dockyards at Devonport and Rosyth are owned by Her Majesty's Government and operated under contract by commercial 37WA companies. The contracts will expire no later than April 1996. Since the introduction of commercial management in 1987, the dockyard operators have cut costs and improved efficiency and have achieved some success in diversifying into other markets.
In the light of these advances, we propose to seek competitive tenders from the private sector for the sale of both dockyards as separate and independent commercial entities. Such a move would be a logical progression from the current arrangements, and would make possible further benefits for the Navy, the taxpayer and the yards themselves. In particular, it would allow much greater freedom and flexibility for the dockyards to operate in a truly commercial environment, would encourage private investment in the dockyard infrastructure and would allow greater scope for major diversification into other markets.
Our aim is to provide a reliable refitting capability for the Royal Navy which maximises competition and achieves best value for money for the taxpayer while ensuring that our strategic requirements will be safeguarded.
We are committed to a substantial programme of allocated surface refit work for Rosyth. We have not ruled out the possibility that some form of contractual commitment relating to future refitting work could be included as one of the matters for negotiation with tenderers for the future management of Rosyth.