§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list in respect of the BNFL strategy review, to which reference is made at paragraph 15.27, page 126 of her Department's Annual Report, Cm 6216,(a) where the conclusions of the review were published, (b) who the members of the review were and (c) why neither the Thorpreprocessing plant nor the Sellafield Mox plant were included in the review. [170979]
§ Nigel GriffithsThe conclusions of the Joint Strategy Review of BNFL were announced in a written statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in the House of Commons on 11 December 2003 and were placed in the Libraries of the House. Full copies of the statement and the explanatory note are available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/nuclearcleanup/wn.htm
The Review was a joint process between HMG, the company and their respective advisers. Mike Parker, the CEO at BNFL, led the BNFL team and was advised by N. M. Rothschild and Freshfields; the Government side was led by the DTI, and advised by HSBC, Deloitte and Touche and Herbert Smith. Other Government Departments, including HMT and the Shareholder Executive, were closely involved in the review process.
The joint review of BNFL was necessary to determine the future structure and broad strategic direction of the company before the NDA came into being. The Government White Paper, "Managing the Nuclear Legacy—a Strategy for Action", published in July 2001 had already stated that responsibility for THORP and 1728W the Sellafield MOX plutonium fuel plant would pass to the NDA. This policy has not changed, and accordingly, was not considered as part of the Strategy Review.