http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/31D096E9-3F41-4633-BEA2-AE62CF97C3AE/0/annrptvol1_200708.pdf
234 We continued to make progress on Package 1 of the Defence Training Review (see
paragraph 297 under People) to deliver training for all three Services at a new site
at St Athan in South Wales. The Metrix consortium has been taking forward risk
reduction work to secure planning consent and develop an affordable training solution.
We aim to begin construction at St Athan in 2010, with training beginning in 2014. After
reviewing further options for Package 2 it became apparent that the Metrix consortium
was not able to offer an affordable and acceptable solution and the competition
was therefore ended in January 2008. We are now considering a range of options
to rationalise the estate in an affordable way while maintaining our supervisory
care commitments. We also announced in January 2008 that we plan to relocate the
Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration and the Director Royal
Logistics Corps from Deepcut in Surrey and consolidate elements of logistics training at
Worthy Down in Wiltshire and Southwick Park in Hampshire. This will enable the eventual
disposal of the Deepcut site;
Thursday, 30 October 2008
get planning permission and highway improvements for redevelopment of RAF St Athan
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=MOD+DTR+audit+commission&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK|countryGB
From: Cotton, Peter (DEIN)
Sent: 22 September 2006 15:00
To: Alan.Davies@capita.co.uk
Cc: Perren, Jeff (DE & T)
Subject: FW: ST Athan Highway Works - Invitation to Tender
Attachments: Contact Data - St Athan Highways.doc
You are invited to tender an offer for a commission by WAG to undertake the services described below. The commission is the development of an existing commission which has progressed to the financial limits of its current contractual arrangements (£50k) so a tender is being sought from consultants contracted by the framework agreement inherited from the former WDA. You are not obliged to tender and a decision by you not to do so will certainly not prejudice your position for further WAG commissions. Please note that if you do decide to tender it must be delivered to the address described below in the envelopes described below before noon on 11th October 2006 . I shall be unavailable for assistance before that date, so the envelopes will be provided by Mr Jeff Perren, tel 01443 845800, email jeff.perren@wales.gsi.gov.uk. Please contact him to inform him of the address to which you require the envelopes to be sent. and to make any other enquiries you may have about the details of the commission.
The conditions of contract for the commission will be as described in the core clauses and the clauses of Options A, X2, X9, X11.1, Y(UK)1 and Y(UK)2 of the second edition, June 1998, of ‘The Professional Services Contract’ published for the Institution of Civil Engineers.
BACKGROUND
The Assembly owns most of the several hundred acres of the former RAF St Athan Airfield, which remains operationally active. The present occupancy of the Assembly's site by the Ministry of Defence (primarily the RAF and DARA [Defence Aviation Repair Agency]) is progressively reducing , but a few other occupancies are continuing. The Army is the most significant neighbouring occupier of the remainder of the former airfield.
Redevelopment of much of the Assembly's site is the basis of a bid by a consortium, Metrix, for two very substantial contracts that are scheduled to be awarded by the MoD for very extensive and comprehensive training of military personnel. The award of the MoD's contracts form a key stage in the MoD's revue of the
The Assembly intends to develop the remainder of the airfield as an
To-date, regular and frequent meetings have been held with the local highway and planning authorities representatives and an assessment of anticipated traffic movements has informed a development brief for the proposals which has been adopted by the local planning authority. The development brief shows that the prime access to the DRY development and /or the Aerospace Park will be achieved by the construction of a road linking the site to the eastern-end of the Llantwit Major Bypass, north of Boverton, but also linking to Cowbridge Road north of St Athan. The latter link is necessary to replace a highway-link/bus route which currently passes through the north of the airfield. Further off-site highway-improvements are required to mitigate the effects of the development, viz. the improvement of highway geometry of the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill, approximately 1 km east of St Athan, plus capacity improvements at the A4226 Waycock Cross Roundabout. An environmental assessment of the preferred route of the prime access was undertaken by White Young Green, together with the relevant environmental surveys required to prepare an Environmental Station which gives due consideration to the sensitive issues along the route. The EA continues to be refined as the design of the route is also being refined, in particular at its eastern extremity where options continue to be assessed. A full topographical aerial-survey was completed and a ground model developed, enabling the highway alignment to be accurately designed. A preliminary ground investigation was also carried out along the preferred route, enabling the engineering properties of the ground to be determined.
The design development of the route has included discussions with many interested parties to address their concerns with appropriate consideration of the scheme’s objectives:
The current approved design drawings, calculations and other relevant criteria are available electronically from Alan Davies of Capita [email Alan.Davies@capita.co.uk]. All tenderers must make themselves familiar with the these documents and, if awarded the commission, must accept them as the basis of their further refinement and development of the proposals.
The development brief is available on the local planning authority's website http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/Our%20Environment/Planning/Policy/Development_Briefs.aspx
SCOPE OF THE CONTRACT FOR THE COMMISSION
AIMS OF THE COMMISSION
To provide sufficient information to achieve planning permission and contractual contracts for the construction and adoption of the prime access and related highway improvements for the redevelopment of RAF St Athan in accord with the development brief adopted by the local planning authority.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMISSION
(i) WAG wishes to complete an integrated team to develop and finalise the design of the scheme’s components in sufficient detail to draft the necessary compulsory-purchase order(s) and achieve a planning application by early January 2007.
(ii) The granting of a suitable and acceptable planning permission for the northern access road to/from the Llantwit Major ByPass from/to
(iii) The granting of a suitable and acceptable planning permission for improvements to the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill plus the A4266 Waycock Cross Roundabout.
(iv) The creation of tender documents, including a sufficiently detailed design, for a design & build contract to provide the works to a standard that is acceptable and adoptable by the local highway authority. Details of the model form of the required terms & conditions of the design & build contract are available from Mr Jeff Perren, whose contact details are described above.
TASKS
Clearly the tasks that are necessary to achieve such broad objectives are many and varied. Each tenderer is required to provide and price his Activity Schedule and included it in Envelope B. The Activity Schedule must include the following subjects, subdivided & priced as the tenderer deems appropriate.
Perform a Stage 1 Safety audit of the designs produced to-date by Capita. Copies of the designs (including traffic & drainage capacities calculations) are attached.
Complete the designs in sufficient detail and/to produce a planning submission acceptable to the local highway authority, local planning authority and all other relevant authorities, including the Environment Agency.
Any land required is likely to be acquired through a Compulsory Purchase Order. The statutory procedures to be followed shall be concurrent, in which case the Side Roads Orders and Compulsory Purchase Orders shall be prepared as nearly concurrently as possible. The Orders shall be published in draft and subsequently processed simultaneously. The Consultant may be requested to assist the Employer with this work.
Complete the designs in sufficient detail for the letting of a competition, by lump-sum tender, for the detailed design & construction of the highway works, including necessary ancillary works (e.g. drainage), of the prime access, described above, and the further off-site highway-improvements that are required to mitigate the effects of the development , viz. the improvement of highway geometry of the B4265 at the St Athan war-memorial and at Gileston Old Mill, plus capacity improvements at the A4226 Waycock Cross Roundabout.
Following the acceptance of the commission the Consultant shall be required to attend weekly progress meetings with the client, WAG at
The Consultant shall assist the Employer with various Public Relations initiatives.
Unless agreed otherwise all contact with the media will be via the Employer.
INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE PROVIDED IN THE TENDER
i) Your tender must describe your understanding of the commission and your abilities, with recent relevant experience in the production of such works as described in the brief below. Ideally you will be able to provide the locations in the
ii) You must identify the resources and skills you would make available to perform the commission, with a breakdown of the time allocated for tasks and who would be involved. The breakdown must include your estimate of your staff’s attendance at a reasonable number of meetings with the Agency, the local authority and other relevant bodies. You must identify and provide CVs for each of the persons who would be involved. You must describe their professional experience and location(s) from where their services would be provided.
iii) You must provide a list of relevant, recently completed contracts.
iv) You must supply confirmation that you hold appropriate indemnity cover and public liability cover, both of at least as defined in the attached ‘Contract Data’.
v) You must confirm your quality procedures, health & safety and environmental policies.
vi) You must provide an activity schedule and programme of those activities, dividing the commission into stages including, as separate stages, all of the tasks described above.
vii) You must confirm that all necessary services to achieve the aims & objectives of the commission, as described above, are included in your activity schedule. Clarify what additional services, if any, you expect others, outside the commission, to provide to achieve all authorisations and permissions for the construction and adoption of the works.
viii) You must provide lump sum prices for each of the activities. The lump sums must be inclusive of all expenses & disbursements and be valid for the next six months plus the programmed period of the commission.
ix) You must provide the calculation of the total of the lump sum prices.
x) You must provide staff rates you would charge for changes to the Scope of the contract, to assist in the calculation of the value of compensation events. The rates must be valid for the next six months plus the programmed period of the commission.
TENDER PROCEDURE
Place the total of your lump sum prices into ‘Envelope A’ and the remaining information, containing no more than ten pages of text, into ‘Envelope B’. Seal both envelopes and place them into ‘Envelope C’. Seal ‘Envelope C’ and return it to the Agency’s Secretary, at the Welsh Development Agency address on it, by 12 noon on Wednesday, 18th December 2002.
N.B. No marks, including mail franking or other delivery system marks, which could identify the sender must be visible on that envelope (C) or anything that contains it.
TENDER ASSESSMENT
1. Tenders will be assessed on the basis of both quality and price. The contract will be awarded to the tenderer submitting the most economically advantageous offer assessed on the basis of quality, and price proposals for the entire scheme. The first assessment will be for quality.
2. All tenders that comply with the quality requirements will be financially assessed. An appraisal of the rates and percentages submitted will be undertaken. Any anomalies in the submitted rates or percentages will be drawn to the attention of the financial panel, which may ask the tenderers to explain any such anomalies.
3. The final assessment of the tenders will be based on an aggregated score for quality and price requirements as detailed below. The ratio of quality to price will be 80:20.
4. WAG reserves the right not to award the contract to the tenderer with the highest score if the panel concludes this will put the WAG at undue financial, operational or legal risk.
Table 1 Tender Score Criteria
| Criteria | Marks | |
| A | Very high standard with detailed understanding of the project aims and no reservations about acceptability | 10 |
| B | High standard but falls just short of A | 9-8 |
| C | Good standard and requirements met, but with some reservations | 7-5 |
| D | Acceptable with significant reservations but not sufficient to warrant rejection | 4-1 |
| E | Fails to meet requirements | 0 |
Peter Cotton
Senior Engineering Manager
Department for
Welsh Assembly Goverment/Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru
QED Centre/Canolfan QED Treforest Industrial Estate/Ystad Ddiwydiannol Trefforest Pontypridd CF37 5YR 01443 845863 mob 07799 862542 fax 01443 845565 email peter.cotton@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Welsh Assembly Government | Disclosure log 1678
Q: How much WAG/DEIN staff time and at what cost has been dedicated to promoting the development of the St Athan site as a major centre of excellence in the ...
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Business of war
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/mar/02/iraq.themilitary1
- The Observer,Sunday March 2 2003
March 2003 Secret MoD files to be handed over to private sector. TNT, the distribution company, and US property firm Prologis Developments will win 25-year contract in an announcement expected this week. They will close the MoD file storage centre in Hayes, west London, move staff to the North of England and computerise the records. The Hayes centre also handles files for the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and magistrates' courts. This is one of the most controversial privatisations so far. Unions say the state should safeguard its own secrets.
February 2003 Serco, the services firm, plans to move almost 600 former MoD staff working for a specially created subsidiary to a tax haven to avoid paying national insurance. Serco won the War Support Agency contract in 1996.
January 2003 The Government sells 35 per cent stake in Qinetiq, the British defence research laboratories, to Carlyle, a US private equity firm which is to manage the former state-run firm. The deal values it at £500m, but the Government gets just £42m in cash.
November 2002 Banks in a PFI project make £25m windfall from £750m revamp of MoD's London HQ by refinancing £500m loan at a cheaper rate.
September 2002 Defence chiefs consider £13bn plan to provide 20 Airbus A330s. It could mean RAF pilots flying tourists to holiday destinations.
September 2002 Jobs of 1,500 naval support staff privatised. Staff at Faslane base on the Clyde now work for Babcock Naval Services. Similar deals now expected at Portsmouth and Devonport.
1998 Colchester garrison PFI scheme launched to rehouse 3,500 soldiers. Four years later not one brick has been laid and millions have vanished in fees.
March 1997 Venture capitalist Cinven pays £74m for Defence Support Services Division, which runs the MoD police and guards 70 sensitive sites, including the germ and chemical warfare research centre at Porton Down, Wiltshire.
November 1996 Annington Homes, a financial consortium led by Japanese bank Nomura, takes over nearly 60,000 MoD homes for £l.5bn. Nomura later reaped £600m profit.
April 1987 Royal Ordnance's 15 factories sold to British Aerospace for £150m, killing thousands of jobs and leading to the SA-80 rifle fiascoSaturday, 27 September 2008
Ministers, Civil servants PFI gravy train
Ministers and Civil servants on the PFI gravy train online only
Alan Milburn, Health Secretary from 1998 to 2003
Alan Milburn is listed in his declaration of members’ interests at the House of Commons as a director of Covidien, which describes itself as “a $10bn global healthcare products leader”. He is also a member of Lloydspharmacy’s Healthcare Advisory Panel. Milburn is an advisor to the European advisory panel of leading private equity firm Bridgepoint, which specialises in healthcare investments. Milburn declares his income from these senior appointments as over £30,000 a year from Bridgepoint; over £25,000 from Lloydspharmacy; nothing listed for Covidien; and a further over £20,000 as an advisor to Pepsico.
Charles Clarke Education Secretary from 2002 to 2004 Home Secretary from 2004 to 2006
Charles Clarke a non-executive director of the LJ Group, which supplies teaching materials and equipment to schools and training services, including through the Government Building Schools for the Future programme, which Clarke initiated as education and skills secretary in February 2004. Clarke is a consultant to KPMG on public sector reform, for whom he wrote a booklet promoting the use of co-payments – service user contributions – to the NHS and other public services.
He also advises Charles Street Securities investment bankers/private equity fund managers. In addition, Clarke is a consultant to Beachcroft LLP, a legal firm that specialises in advising PFI/PPP deals.
- 29.08.08 Beachcroft achieves £690m financial close on new MoD facilities
Beachcroft has advised Inteq - a John Laing and Interserve consortium chosen by the MoD to provide a new office and accommodation complex at Corsham in Wiltshire - on the financial close of a £690 million PFI project.
Patricia Hewitt Health Secretary from 2005 to 2007
Patricia Hewitt is now senior adviser to Cinven, a private equity-backed private hospitals and healthcare group (payment, over £55,000 pa). She is also special consultant (payment over £45,000 pa) to AllianceBoots, which is owned by private equity firm KKR. In addition, Hewitt is a director of BT Group, which is providingbusiness outsourcing, IT and telecoms services to a range of public bodies. Hewitt established the telecoms and media regulator Ofcom in an earlier job as secretary of state for trade and industry and was in charge of the National Programme for IT – in which BT won one of the largest contracts – while secretary of state for health. According to BT’s submission of details to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hewitt will be paid an initial £60,000, but with an expected increase as she takes on more responsibilities, in return for working at least 22 days a year.
David Blunkett Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 Education Secretary from 1997 to 2001 and Work and Pensions secretary in 2005
David Blunkett is now an advisor on business development to A4e Ltd, for which he is entitled to be paid at least £25,000 a year, but which (according tohis Parliamentary declaration of interests) he has not yet been paid. A4e describes itself as a “market leader in global public service reform”.
Lord Warner Health Minister from 2003 to 2007
Lord Warner had specific responsibility for reform of the NHS – overseeing the introduction of more private sector involvement. Since he stepped down from that role he has taken on a directorship with UK HealthGateway and is chairman of the Government Sector Advisory Panel for Xansa plc – a leading provider of business outsource services to public bodies and holder of the £1bn NHS’s shared business service centre contract, providing accounting and finance services to the NHS. Lord Warner is also an advisor to Byotrol (a provider of micro biological health treatments), Apax Partners Worldwide (a private equity firm, with strong connections to the Government and which has invested heavily in health providers seeking contracts with the NHS), Deloitte (an accountancy and consultancy firm, with large incomes from government agencies) and DLA Piper (a legal firm, which, like Deloitte, specialises in advising on private contracting to the public sector). Lord Warner remains influential within the NHS as chair of the NHS London Provider Agency.
Hilary Armstrong secretary of state for local government from 1997 to 2001 for the Cabinet Office from 2006 to 2007
Hilary Armstrong has recently taken a position as chair of wastecompany SITA’s advisory committee.
Nick Raynsford a Local Government and Housing minister from 1997 to 2005
Nick Raynsford is now non-executive chairman of local authority recruitment agency Rockpools PLC and of Hometrack, a lettings service.
Ian McCartney Trade Minister from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2006 to 2007
Ian McCartney is a senior adviser to the US Fluor Corporation, an energy contractor that is believed to have ambitions to win nuclear clean-up contracts in the UK. McCartney is paid at least £110,000 a year for his advice. The former Department of Trade and Industry had responsibility for energy policy.
Washington fields mercenary army in Iraq
It also revealed a large body of mercenaries operating throughout Iraq. ... Fluor, won a $1.1 billion (£617 million) deal last month to help restore Iraq’s ...www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/merc-m05.shtml
Stephen Byers Trade and industry secretary from 1998 to 2001
Stephen Byers is now non-executive chairman of water treatment company ACWA and Ritz Climate Offset Company.
Richard Caborn Trade minister from 1999 to 2001
Richard Caborn is now a consultant to AMEC assisting them with their work in the nuclear industry. His payment for this is at least £70,000 a year. He is also a former sports minister and now a consultant to the Fitness Industry Association, for which he is paid at least £10,000 a year.
Brian Wilson Energy minister from 2001 to 2003
Brian Wilson is now a non-executive director of AMEC Nuclear and is UK chairman of the renewables company, Airtricity.
Stephen Ladyman transport minister from 2005 to 2007
Stephen Ladyman is now an adviser to It is Holdings, a company selling traffic information, for which he is paid at least £10,000 a year.
Frank Field welfare reform minister from 1997 to 1998
Frank Field is now a director of Medicash, which operates a healthcare cash plan.
Sir Michael Barber former head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit
Michael Barber oversaw publicsector reforms in health, education, transport, policing, the criminal justice system and asylum/immigration. He is now the expert partner in consulting firm McKinsey’s Global Public Sector Practice.
Baroness Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan was a close aide to Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister and she was director of government relations in Downing Street and subsequently was made a minister and a member of the House of Lords. She is now a director of the largest care home operator in the UK, Southern Cross, which has expanded substantially as a result of government reforms to the structure and funding of social care. She is a member of the advisory panel of Lloyds Pharmacy, which is expected to bid for contracts under the Department of Health's £1.25bn
Alternative Provider Medical Services programme. Morgan is also a director of Carphone Warehouse.
Sir Gerry Loughran
Sir Gerry Loughran was head of the Northern Ireland civil service from 2000 to 2002. After retiring he took on a number of private sector directorships. These included Phoenix Natural Gas, which is owned by the Terra Firma private equity firm, and he soon became
chairman upon joining the board. While a senior civil servant, Loughran chaired the Strategy 2010 project,57 to sell and leaseback the civil service property portfolio. After leaving the civil service, Loughran became a director and chairman of Partenaire, where he led the company’s (unsuccessful) bid to win the £2bn Workplace 2010 contract that resulted from Strategy 2010.
Lord Wilson of Dinton
Lord Wilson of Dinton was, as Sir Richard Wilson, head of the Home Civil Service and secretary to the Cabinet – as such he had the overall responsibility for seeing that the Prime Minister’s policies on public sector reform were carried out. He was afterwards appointed a director of Xansa (now part of the Steria group), one of the main providers of business process outsourcing services to the public sector.
Lord Turnbull
Lord Wilson’s successor as head of the Home Civil Service was Sir Andrew Turnbull, now Lord Turnbull. Lord Turnbull’s current directorships include British Land (active in the PFI/PPP market), Prudential (also active in the market) and Frontier Economics (which advises private sector clients on public sector reform). Turnbull is also chairman of Brevan Howard Global, an investment management company.
Sir Peter Gershon
Sir Peter Gershon was brought in by The Treasury in 1998 to reduce government expenditure and improve efficiency – he conducted a series of reviews in the period to 2004. He became a civil servant in 2000 as founding chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce. Sir Peter is now executive chairman of Vertex, one of the largest suppliers of business outsourcing services to the UK public sector. He is also non-executive chairman of the General Healthcare Group, the largest private healthcare group in the UK – owned by the private equity group Apax Partners and the South African healthcare company Netcare, which has ISTC and other supply contracts with the NHS. In August 2008 Sir Peter completed a review of ICT procurement policy for the Australian government.58
Chris Woodhead
Following his period as chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead set-up the Cognita group of independent schools, using funds supplied by a private equity firm, Englefield Capital.
Sir Steve Robson
Sir Steve Robson was one of the most controversial senior civil servants of recent years, who oversaw the privatisation of British Rail on behalf of Sir John Major. Robson went on to become second permanent secretary at HM Treasury until he retired in 2001. During his earlier career, he was seconded to 3i while remaining a civil servant. He oversaw the Government’s policy on PPPs while serving the current Government at the Treasury. Since retiring, Sir Steve has been a director at Partnerships UK, JP Morgan Cazenove (a global
bank), Xstrata (a mining group) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (one of the leading investors in PPPs) and is a member of the Chairman’s Advisory Committee at the accountancy and consultancy firm KPMG (a leading adviser to PPP and PFI schemes).
Simon Stevens
Simon Stevens was Tony Blair’s health advisor within 10 Downing Street and, with Alan Milburn, was the key architect of the NHS reform programme. He is now chairman of UnitedHealth UK, which has won contracts with the NHS to manage and advise primary
care trusts. The company’s executive director, previously chief executive, was, until late 2007, Dr Richard Smith, a former editor of the British Medical Journal. He is now working for UnitedHealth in the US.
Tom Granatir
Another US-based healthcare group with serious aspirations in the UK is Humana Europe. Its director of policy and research in the UK is Tom Granatir, who was seconded for six months to the NHS in its Health Inequalities Unit and was then seconded on a separate assignment with the influential health think-tank, the King’s Fund.
Darren Murphy
Darren Murphy was a special advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair from May 1997 to September 2005. After a period as head of government relations and external affairs for AstraZeneca UK Murphy became managing director at the London office of lobbying firm APCO whose clients include most of the private healthcare firms bidding to run Independent Sector Treatment Centres.
Adam Ingrams
Former long serving armed forces minister Adam Ingrams appointment as £50,000 a year consultant EDS, is just reward for 6 years at the MoD helping booster the firms buisiness.
ED's notable successes in recent years include a £250m contract to take the forces payroll (with predictably disasterous results so far) membershiop of the Metrix consortium negotiating a £12bn (and rising) PFI deal to privatise military training and a 4bn contract won in 2004 to overhaul all military and civilian defence IT......
Monday, 30 June 2008
leadership challenge over St Athan policy
The battle for the presidency of Plaid Cymru kicks off with the party’s three MPs leading the charge to dislodge Dafydd Iwan from the post. Dr Iwan, a keen advocate of Welsh Independence, will face a challenge from Plaid’s leader at Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd.
I am puzzled by the support of SCOTTISH First Minister Alex Salmond for Elfyn Llwyd’s. Mr Llwyd said the party “needed to be singing from the same hymn sheet”, suggesting there were differences between MPs and the presidency over the St Athan military base in the Vale of Glamorgan – supported by Plaid MPs but opposed by the party’s presidency.
Does Alex Salmond support the government policy made in Westminster to privatise military training? Would he support a policy which would hinder the future Independence of Scotland, I don't think so. I would be surprised that anyone who wants more independence for their country would submit willingly to a policy of intense militarisation and happily welcome the prospect of a regime like Burma for instance, on paying the right fees, get its soldiers trained here.
Would Alex Salmond agree with the MoD that the training of private contractors and foreign armies is actually about making a stable world for our children’s children?
Private Eye (no 1213) reports a confidential “post meeting readout” of deliberations, on the St Athan project, led by deputy chief of defence staff (personnel) Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson exposes “major AFFORDABILITY issues” requiring a “realistic contingency plan”
Hinting at serious difficulties on the deal, the “affordability gap” could not be disclosed even to the project board as it was too “sensitive”. More alarming still was a list of 15 significant risks with the project, training that fails to meet requirement of operational commands and is not of a sufficiently high standard.
Existing defence trainers appear unwilling to move to a new defence academy at St Athan, south Wales, from their existing bases (72% have said they won’t)
Certain risks are deemed “intolerable”. The scheme depends on missing millions from the sale of sites at Arborfield and Bordon where if planning permission for housing isn’t obtained soon, sites will be much less valuable, “impacting on the affordability of the project as a whole”.
New government accounting rules are due to bring PFI investments on balance sheet leaving the deal losing its off balance sheet PFI magic. The consequence of this would be to make the project unaffordable.
I wrote to Elfyn Llwyd and in Feb this year he replied rather unsatisfactorily; "Plaid Cymru recently debated St Athan in the context of its Defence Policy at National Council. After a very interesting and detailed debate it was decided that this would be a constituent of a conventional defence policy. My personal view is that, although Plaid is not a pacifist party many Plaid members hold that view. I am not a pacifist as such and believe that Wales should play its full part in defending as opposed to conducting any aggressive military policy." http://stathanmilitaryacademypoliticians.blogspot.com/search?q=+Elfyn+Llwyd%2C+
He hasn’t raised this matter in parliament. He hasn’t raised any of the issues above despite him claim that he is anti privatisation at least.
I am puzzled by the support of SCOTTISH First Minister Alex Salmond for Elfyn Llwyd’s. Mr Llwyd said the party “needed to be singing from the same hymn sheet”, suggesting there were differences between MPs and the presidency over the St Athan military base in the Vale of Glamorgan – supported by Plaid MPs but opposed by the party’s presidency.
Does Alex Salmond support the government policy made in Westminster to privatise military training? Would he support a policy which would hinder the future Independence of Scotland, I don't think so. I would be surprised that anyone who wants more independence for their country would submit willingly to a policy of intense militarisation and happily welcome the prospect of a regime like Burma for instance, on paying the right fees, get its soldiers trained here.
Would Alex Salmond agree with the MoD that the training of private contractors and foreign armies is actually about making a stable world for our children’s children?
Private Eye (no 1213) reports a confidential “post meeting readout” of deliberations, on the St Athan project, led by deputy chief of defence staff (personnel) Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson exposes “major AFFORDABILITY issues” requiring a “realistic contingency plan”
Hinting at serious difficulties on the deal, the “affordability gap” could not be disclosed even to the project board as it was too “sensitive”. More alarming still was a list of 15 significant risks with the project, training that fails to meet requirement of operational commands and is not of a sufficiently high standard.
Existing defence trainers appear unwilling to move to a new defence academy at St Athan, south Wales, from their existing bases (72% have said they won’t)
Certain risks are deemed “intolerable”. The scheme depends on missing millions from the sale of sites at Arborfield and Bordon where if planning permission for housing isn’t obtained soon, sites will be much less valuable, “impacting on the affordability of the project as a whole”.
New government accounting rules are due to bring PFI investments on balance sheet leaving the deal losing its off balance sheet PFI magic. The consequence of this would be to make the project unaffordable.
I wrote to Elfyn Llwyd and in Feb this year he replied rather unsatisfactorily; "Plaid Cymru recently debated St Athan in the context of its Defence Policy at National Council. After a very interesting and detailed debate it was decided that this would be a constituent of a conventional defence policy. My personal view is that, although Plaid is not a pacifist party many Plaid members hold that view. I am not a pacifist as such and believe that Wales should play its full part in defending as opposed to conducting any aggressive military policy." http://stathanmilitaryacademypoliticians.blogspot.com/search?q=+Elfyn+Llwyd%2C+
He hasn’t raised this matter in parliament. He hasn’t raised any of the issues above despite him claim that he is anti privatisation at least.
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Inexperienced politicans & Rhodri Morgan
Inexperienced politicians and the messes they make By Matthew Sinclair She counts among her "achievements" Railtrack's renationalisation, the selling of Qinetiq for a fraction of its true value, and the disastrous creation of Metronet. This one-woman disaster zone has cost the taxpayer 
several hundred ...The TaxPayers' Alliance - Better... - http://tpa.typepad.com/bettergovernment/
Best quote ever from House of Commons questioning of civil servants involved in Quinetiq sale. MP Richard Bacon: "MR WOOLEY ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ?
"Woolley: "I AM NOT"
Bacon: "ARE YOU A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL PERSON OF ANY KIND ? DO YOU HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ?"
Woolley: "I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS"
Bacon: "WHAT IS YOUR JOB ?"
Woolley: "I AM THE FINANCE DIRECTOR OF THE MOD"
Rhodri Morgan - Don’t worry about Plaid Daily Post, UK - 18 Feb 2008
He criticised Plaid vice president and MEP Jill Evans for attacking the proposed multi-million pounds Defence Training Academy in St Athan, south Wales, ...So who is Rhodri listening to?
several hundred ...The TaxPayers' Alliance - Better... - http://tpa.typepad.com/bettergovernment/ Best quote ever from House of Commons questioning of civil servants involved in Quinetiq sale. MP Richard Bacon: "MR WOOLEY ARE YOU A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT ?
"Woolley: "I AM NOT"
Bacon: "ARE YOU A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL PERSON OF ANY KIND ? DO YOU HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS ?"
Woolley: "I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL QUALIFICATIONS"
Bacon: "WHAT IS YOUR JOB ?"
Woolley: "I AM THE FINANCE DIRECTOR OF THE MOD"
Rhodri Morgan - Don’t worry about Plaid Daily Post, UK - 18 Feb 2008
He criticised Plaid vice president and MEP Jill Evans for attacking the proposed multi-million pounds Defence Training Academy in St Athan, south Wales, ...So who is Rhodri listening to?
Friday, 7 March 2008
massive privatisation of military training -
Bloglith Jill Evans / Jill Evans' Blog
By Cangen Bontnewydd Branch, Plaid Cymru(Cangen Bontnewydd Branch, Plaid Cymru)
Justice Group. The subject was the proposed military training academy at St Athan. This is a massive privatisation of military training - putting it into the hands of private companies. You can read about the issue in more detail in the ...
Plaid Cymru, Cangen Bontnewydd Branch - http://plaidcymrubont.blogspot.com/
By Cangen Bontnewydd Branch, Plaid Cymru(Cangen Bontnewydd Branch, Plaid Cymru)
Justice Group. The subject was the proposed military training academy at St Athan. This is a massive privatisation of military training - putting it into the hands of private companies. You can read about the issue in more detail in the ...
Plaid Cymru, Cangen Bontnewydd Branch - http://plaidcymrubont.blogspot.com/
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