§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 5 May 2004,Official Report, column 1523W, on the Nimrod MRA4, what plans he has to ensure that, in the event of an eventual favourable decision to continue production of the Nimrod MRA4 aircraft, a workforce with the sufficient skills and product knowledge will be available at Woodford. [172415]
§ Mr. IngramBAE Systems is clearly best placed to manage their workforce to provide the skills and knowledge to meet current obligations and likely future business requirements.
667WAcceptable design maturity and price are needed before a full production order can be placed. The Ministry of Defence, however, has been approving low risk production activities when it makes sense to do so, where these help maintain essential skills and product knowledge as well as preserve schedule.