§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the prospects of allocating new sources of his Department's work to ABRO, Old Dalby.
§ Mr. FreemanPrior to my announcement on 27 October 1994 of the intention to withdraw work from ABRO Old Dalby, ABRO had undertaken a number of studies to determine the practicality of moving work from its other facilities into Old Dalby. The studies clearly demonstrated that such a course of action was not cost-effective. ABRO also assessed the potential for transferring work undertaken by private contractors into Old Dalby, but concluded that this was neither practical nor cost-effective. The other services are also looking at the need to make effective use of the repair facilities at their disposal and some further rationalisation and consolidation of repair work may result from the defence costs study recommendation for tri-service rationalisation. This will not, however, alter the decision to withdraw all MOD work from ABRO, Old Dalby.
§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on possible private sector interest in purchasing all or part of ABRO, Old Dalby.
§ Mr. FreemanFollowing my announcement of 31 January 1995 that MOD operations were to cease at the ABRO, Old Dalby workshop, a number of companies have expressed tentative interest in some of the facilities. As yet, however, none of these amount to substantive proposals.
Any costed proposals received before the end of July 1995 will be carefully considered to see if they offer improved value for money compared with transferring work to ABROs Donnington or Bovington workshops or elsewhere within MOD. It is important to bear in mind however that the primary objective of the Old Dalby closure is to rationalise excess capacity within ABRO by moving work to other workshops where spare capacity exists.
Industry has been invited to come forward with non-MOD uses for the Old Dalby workshop.