ROSYTH ROYAL DOCKYARD

That this House notes that in a letter from the Prime Minister to the honourable Member for Dunfermline East, dated 6th January 1993, on the handling of the nuclear refit competition, the Prime Minister made no mention of Rosyth's second bid but specifically compared RD57 with Devonport Management Ltd's greatly cheaper docks modernisation scheme, even though senior Ministry of Defence officials had assured Rosyth that Scheme IV would be accepted and fully evaluated in the competition after it was formally submitted on 10th December 1992; is concerned about leaks from recommendations issued by the Secretary of State for Defence's office to senior cabinet colleagues in early January that Rosyth's Scheme IV bid had been dismissed as insubstantial and insufficiently developed, and criticised because Rosyth were unable to file a firm, fixed price early enough; notes that Babcock Thorn state they were not told of such reservations or given the opportunity to submit additional information; is alarmed that similar leaks claim the Ministry of Defence has recommended Rosyth lose all nuclear refitting contracts in favour of Devonport and take instead a five-year package of guaranteed surface ship refitting that will secure only around 1,500 of the dockyard's 4,200 jobs and a deeply insecure future, whilst Devonport will be guaranteed 30 years of nuclear refitting work; and requests an early explanation from the Secretary of Defence.