Army Base Repair Organisation (Hansard, 27 October 1994)

§ Mr. Freeman

A pilot market test of 18 Base Workshops at Bovington was won by the in-house bid team earlier this year. Since then, the Army Base Repair Organisation has completed a study which has concluded that there remains an excess of workshop capacity which needs to be addressed. This overcapacity results from a range of factors including the reorganisation of work load following earlier rationalisation, a reduction in the amount of equipment in the Army, increased reliability of modern equipment and improved repair techniques. The study has recommended that activity at the base workshop at Old Dalby, Leicestershire should cease, and that its work load should be transferred to other facilities. It recommended that the district workshop at Ashford, Kent should also cease operations and that its work load should be transferred either to other ABRO facilities or to industry. The study also recommended that the ABRO's wider market-testing programme should be restructured to take account of the proposed closures and to provide more scope for innovative proposals from industry.

Our intention is to begin consultation on these proposals with the relevant trade unions as soon as possible with a view to completing the ABRO withdrawal from Ashford by late 1995 and Old Dalby by late 1996. Final decisions will be taken in the light of this consultation.

If, in the event, withdrawal from the ABRO workshop at Old Dalby is confirmed after consultation, the MOD will first seek to establish whether there is another MOD use for the site and, in the event that there is not, I will seek actively, in co-operation with the local Member of Parliament, local authorities, staff representatives and the relevant local agencies to find an alternative use for the site and its facilities.

Copies of the consultation document are being placed in the Library of the House.