§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
- (a) what form the organisation of the project for the new aircraft carriers will take;
- (b) who the participants in that organisation will be;
WA 6 - (c) what will be the proportionate share of each of them in the project;
- (d) how their respective responsibilities will be allocated and defined;
- (e) how each of them will be represented in the direction and management of the project;
- (f) what form the documentation of this arrangement will take;
- (g) when that documentation will be agreed and signed; and
- (h) whether they will ensure that the National Audit Office reviews and reports on that arrangement and its documentation as one element in the major projects report for 2005. [HL1414]
§ Lord BachThe future aircraft carrier project is managed and executed by an integrated team drawn from the resources of each participant in the alliance. It is directed by an alliance management board, which has a lead representative from each participant and is chaired by the Ministry of Defence, as the client.
Alliance participants are likely to include the Ministry of Defence, BAe Systems, KBR UK and Thales UK. Depending on developments, the inclusion of others is not ruled out. Final membership will be confirmed when we take the major investment decision to move into the demonstration and manufacture phases—currently targeted for the latter half of 2005. To achieve this, we will need to have finalised an alliance agreement and works contracts which, among other things, will document: the roles and responsibilities of each participant; and the risk and reward incentive scheme. These items will be defined through ongoing work with the companies.
The National Audit Office commented on the carrier project and the alliance strategy in the 2003 and 2004 major projects reports. It is expected that this level of scrutiny will continue, although we would not wish to direct or prescribe the audit role of an independent body.