§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effects the changes initiated by the Defence Logistics Organisation have had on employment at RAF Henlow. [140077]
§ Mr. SpellarRAF Henlow is home to elements of two Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) business units—the Defence Communication Services Agency (DCSA) and the Directorate General Defence Logistics Information Systems (DG Def Log IS).
The former RAF Signals Engineering Establishment Agency, whose headquarters were at RAF Henlow, merged with the DCSA in April 2000 and became the DCSA's Directorate of Engineering and Interoperability, retaining its HQ at RAF Henlow. The future size and shape of this Directorate is under review as part of the DLO's goal of delivering effective front line logistic support at greatly reduced cost. While this review has been under way there have been restrictions on recruitment locally to ensure that staff are not appointed into posts which might be subject to change. There has also been a reduction in contracted-in support. Any changes proposed will be subject to full consultation.
Elements of DG Def Log IS have also been established at RAF Henlow. These have incorporated the former Henlow based Logistic Support Services Agency and the 496W Stevenage based Logistics Information Systems (RAF) project. Some 40 posts have been transferred into RAF Henlow as a result.