§ Mr. BlizzardTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the extent to which his Department's PFI partner, Vosper Thornycroft, was responsible for the delay in the building of(a) HMS Echo and (b) HMS Enterprise. [127189]
§ Mr. IngramAn assessment of the extent to which the prime contractor, Vosper Thornycroft, is responsible for delays in building these vessels has been completed by the Ministry of Defence and the conclusions discussed and agreed with the company. I am withholding this information in accordance with Exemption 7 (Effective Management and Operations of the Public Service) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
The Survey Vessels contract is not under PFI terms, although Vosper Thornycroft is a PFI partner of the Ministry of Defence on other contracts.