HC Deb 02 December 2002 vol 395 c472W
Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his oral statement of 25 November,Official Report, column 129, on the contract for the desertisation of the Challenger 2 tank, on what date the contract was (a) let and (b) signed. [84291]

Mr. Hoon

A Post Design Services enabling agreement with Alvis Vickers Ltd., the Design Authority (DA) for Challenger 2, was authorised at the end of October 2002. A series of other contracts have been let with the DA since then, but I am withholding details of these under Exemption 1 (Defence, security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. To provide such information would jeopardise our contingency planning and harm operational security.