§ Mr. RapsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future arrangements for the in-house deep repair of aircraft. [39844]
§ Dr. ReidThe deep repair and overhaul of aviation equipment are currently provided in the Ministry of Defence facilities (known as Third Line) and by Industry (known as Fourth line). Third Line work is currently undertaken by two separate Defence Agencies, the Naval Aircraft Repair Organisation (NARO) for helicopters and the RAF Maintenance Group Defence Agency (RAF MGDA) for fixed wing aircraft.
693WWe now propose to bring together Third Line repair in a single management structure, which would be known as the Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA). I will be setting work in hand immediately in order to launch the DARA as a new Agency on 1 April 1999 with a view to moving the organisation to Trading Fund Status as soon as practicable thereafter.
The aim is to recruit a Chief Executive for the DARA by open competition to take forward this challenging task. The Agency will be overseen by an Owner's Board chaired by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence.