§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when market testing of support services in Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation and the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency took place; what the outcome was; and if he will make a statement. [37900]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe Defence Evaluation and Research Agency was formed as an agency within the Ministry of Defence on 1 April 1995. The separate organisations which came together to form the agency each had their own market testing policies in place before 1995 operating under the umbrella of the MoD competing for quality initiative. The Defence Research Agency, for example, had already undertaken the market testing of its engineering services and support services at a number of sites. This led to the implementation of a number of different arrangements involving a mixture of outsourcing and retention of restructured in-house services. In the Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation, the support operations at several ranges have for many years been run on our behalf by contractors. I will be considering whether the entire support services division of DERA, known as DSSD, could be privatised; the feasibility of this,646W including the possibility of incorporating some elements of support for the DTEO ranges which are not yet contractorised is currently being examined.