HC Deb 06 December 1999 vol 340 cc345-6W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans his Department has for the future of(a) HMS Collingwood, (b) HMS Centurion, (c) HMS Dryad and (d) HMS Sultan; and if he will make a statement. [100876]

Mr. Spellar

My Department has no plans which might affect HMS Collingwood, HMS Dryad, HMS Sultan and the Centurion site in the immediate future. With specific regard to Collingwood, Dryad and Sultan, these Naval training establishments form part of the Naval Recruiting and Training Agency, whose Chief Executive is under a constant remit to review his estate usage to ensure efficiency targets are achieved. Accordingly, the Chief Executive has commissioned an internal strategic review to develop a number of innovative, imaginative, and far reaching options for the future of naval training and to propose the size and shape of the Agency for the future. In Portsmouth, HMS Collingwood, HMS Sultan, HMS Dryad and HMS Excellent are all being considered as part of this review.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money has been spent in each of the last three years on(a) HMS Collingwood, (b) HMS Centurion, (c) HMS Dryad and (d) HMS Sultan; and if he will make a statement. [100877]

Mr. Spellar

The amount of money spent on HMS Dryad, HMS Collingwood and HMS Sultan over the last three years is as follows:

£ million
Financial Year 1996–97 Financial Year 1997–98 Financial Year 1998–99
HMS
Collingwood 27.395 27.472 26.978
HMS Dryad 23.402 22.255 23.632
HMS Sultan 40.350 35.404 36.460

These figures are the final cash outturn figures and include the cost of maintaining the buildings and equipment, major capital works (detailed separately), Service manpower costs and civilian manpower costs.

The following sums were spent on major capital works:

£ million
Financial Year 1996–97 Financial Year 1997–98 Financial Year 1998–99
HMS
Collingwood 0.183 0.614 1.235
HMS Dryad 1.063 0.578 0.581
HMS Sultan 2.259 0.448 0.122

Centurion Building was transferred under a full repairing and insuring lease on 1 January 1998 to Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Defence Limited, as part of a PFI contract. The MOD has not incurred any direct costs arising from maintenance or alterations to this building since that time.