09 Oct 08. DEFENCE COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO DEFENCE EQUIPMENT
The Defence Committee is undertaking an inquiry to examine the MoD’s progress in improving the way it procures and supports defence equipment, and issues about the future equipment programme and the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS).
On 1 April 2007 the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) merged to form Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), which has an annual spend of some £16 billion. In its inquiry, the Committee plans to examine a range of issues including:
* The progress made to date to develop DE&S into a “fit for purpose” integrated procurement and support organisation;
* The extent to which support to current operations is impacting upon DE&S performance relating to the procurement of core defence equipment;
* The progress relating to the “short examination of the equipment programme” announced by the MoD in June 2008;
* The progress made to date in implementing the DIS and the delay in publishing the updated version of the DIS.
The Committee also plans to examine the progress of a selection of key equipment programmes including the A400M and Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) programmes.
The Committee would welcome written evidence to the inquiry. In particular, it would welcome industry’s views on: the performance of DE&S; the MoD’s short examination of the equipment programme; and the progress in implementing the DIS. Written evidence should be sent to the Clerk of the Defence Committee by Friday 7 November 2008.
Evidence sessions
The Defence Committee is planning to hold three evidence sessions. The first with representatives from industry on Tuesday 18 November 2008 at 10.30 am and the second with General Sir Kevin O’Donoghue KCB CBE, Chief of Defence Materiel, head of DE&S, on Tuesday 25 November 2008 at 10.30 am. The third evidence session will be with the new minister for Defence Equipment and Support (provisional date of Tuesday 8 December 2008). These sessions will take place at the House of Commons.
Those wishing to attend the meetings should check the exact venue by contacting the House of Commons Public Information Office on 020 7219 4272 on the day before the hearing.
SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN EVIDENCE:
Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to defcom@parliament.uk. The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.
Submissions should be as brief as possible, and paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference. Longer documents should include an executive summary.
Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this.
Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee.
House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 06 Oct 2008
Aircraft Carriers
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost for fuel for the recently ordered aircraft carriers in the first 12 months of their operation; and what cost of oil per barrel this calculation assumes. [222521]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The estimated cost of fuel for 12 months is some £12.5 millio