§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Bolton, West constituency, the effects on Bolton, West of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150603]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 5 March 2001]: The Ministry of Defence has a wide-ranging presence throughout the UK in terms of defence establishments and the service and civilian personnel they employ. This presence brings benefits to many communities, local 12W economies and jobs. Also, 60,000 new defence contracts are placed each year that provide support to industry and create and sustain defence-related employment.
The Ministry of Defence has maintained a large number of personnel in the north-west, a significant proportion of whom are based close to Bolton: within a 25-mile radius distance of the constituency, MOD direct employees totalled some 2,700 personnel as of 1 October 1999 (service and civilian).
Since 2 May 1977, around 440 contracts with a total value of some £332 million were placed with prime contractors in the Bolton area1. A contract was placed with Matra BAe Dynamics in February 2000 for the supply of Seawolf Block 2 missiles for the Royal Navy, and this good news for UK industry safeguards about 300 high skill jobs at MBD and its suppliers, including the Lostock MBD plant.
I draw attention to the Defence Analytical Services Agency report "UK Defence Statistics 2000", which contains a wealth of defence statistical information, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
1The decision as to where work under a particular contract will be undertaken rests with the contractor, therefore work on a contract placed with a prime contract in the Bolton area may well be done elsewhere, similarly, contracts placed with contractors outside the Bolton area could lead to sub-contracts on companies in Bolton.