HC Deb 19 July 2001 vol 372 cc334-5W
Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on the implementation of the Defence Training Review and related training estate matters; and if he will make a statement. [5990]

Mr. Lidington

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the implications of the Defence Training Review for the future of RAF Halton. [4938]

Mr. Ingram

Work is in hand in the Ministry of Defence on the implementation of the Defence Training Review which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence announced to the House in March. A number of areas have been identified where rationalisation on a single site appears feasible, and scoping studies are taking place on these. These studies are examining, in the first instance, options for providing the training at MOD sites. These will serve as benchmarks, or Public Sector Comparators, against which a wider range of options can be considered. Wider options include potential partnerships with the private sector, and private sector providers are being encouraged to propose innovative solutions. These might involve establishing training establishments on completely new sites. The selection, therefore, of a benchmark site does not imply that the MOD has taken a decision to continue training on that site.

The sites being examined for these benchmarks or Public Sector Comparators are RAF Cosford for aeronautical engineering training; the Defence School of Transport at Leconfield for logistic training; Defence Intelligence and Security Centre at Chicksands for security, intelligence, language and photography training; the Royal School of Signals at Blandford for communications and information systems training; RAF Halton for joint personnel administration and police training and HMS Sultan for electro-mechanical engineering training. There will be implications for other sites at which elements of this training are carried out, but because work is at an early stage these cannot be quantified.

In parallel with the work on the Defence Training Review, the Royal Navy has been conducting a comprehensive review of the remainder of its training estate. It is now proposed to concentrate naval shore training over the next 10 years at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, HMS Raleigh in the Plymouth area, and HMS Collingwood in Gosport. This will permit the delivery of more cost-effective training and improve operational capability. It will include the creation of an Integrated Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood, which will deliver all maritime warfare training in a single site. As part of this programme, HMS Dryad in the Portsmouth area will become surplus to requirements and close by no later than 2011, although vigorous efforts will be made to advance this date to maximise the operational and financial benefits, and it is intended that substantial elements of the establishment will progressively transfer to HMS Collingwood over the next few years. Changes are also planned at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth, which has been announced as the future site for key elements of the Royal Navy's Fleet Headquarters.

Detailed proposals for all the above measures will be subject to normal consultative procedures at the appropriate time.

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