§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future development of the Organisme Conjointe de Co-operation en Matière d' Armament. [51059]
§ Mr. SpellarThe UK is playing a full part in the continuing development of the Organisme Conjointe de Cooperation en Matière d' Armament, OCCAR, which provides an opportunity to improve the way we conduct collaborative business with our European partners. With our partners, we are currently seeking legal status for the Organisation and are exploring various options to achieve 477W this. Legal status would allow OCCAR to place and manage contracts under agreed procurement procedures on the basis of best practice. OCCAR already manages existing Franco-German collaborative equipment programmes and agreement has been reached for the integration of projects involving the UK.