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SL 02
Memorandum from Borough of Telford and Wrekin
1. I enclose evidence on behalf of the Borough of Telford & Wrekin to the Defence Select Committee, for your inquiry into the UK's ability to support military operations across the globe.
2. You are focusing particularly on Strategic Lift. We understand that internal factors within UK procurement of matériel are likely also to affect the resourcing of front-line operations, and should be grateful if this aspect of provisioning is also explored by the Select Committee.
3. Stafford Park in Telford is a primary location for ESSPA, the Equipment Support Procurement and Provision Agency. ESPPA was formed in 1995 from the technical equipment division at Donnington, the procurement branch at Andover and the vehicle spares division at Chilwell. More than 400 employees work at Sapphire House, in Stafford Park.
4. It is highly specialised in its procurement functions, and supports tri-service mission critical activities, including current front-line deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.
5. Jointly with Andover, the Telford contingent provisions the Manoeuvre Strike Cluster (M/S) which is the UK's 'battle winning capability'. Support systems include field artillery, light armour and tanks. Telford also provisions the Combat Support Cluster (C/S) which is essential to the M/S capability, and includes specialist and general utility vehicles, and workshop, engineering and combat support equipment.
6. There is a current and foreseeable high operational tempo, which requires continuity of specialist logistical support. However, as part of the DLO's co-location policy, the Telford contingent is due to be relocated to Bristol in March/April 2008 (Integrated Project Teams supporting M/S), and in late 2008 (IPTs supporting C/S).
7. There will be a major dislocation of skills if the move to Bristol goes ahead on the present timescale. A current evaluation is that over 90% of Sapphire House staff will either not be able to relocate to Bristol or are not required after the end of 2008. These staff and their current unique and critical skills will be lost by then and are already starting to leave as the effects of co-location planning bite.
8. The Member of Parliament for Telford, David Wright MP, said in a Commons armed forces debate on 17th November 2005: (Commons Hansard col.1169-70) "The MOD will find it incredibly difficult to recruit staff in Bristol, certainly skilled staff. These are skilled jobs. Those people procure products for the armed forces. It will be difficult to replace them when most of them will not want to move from the Telford area. Of course, it is also more expensive to live in Bristol and I am sure that many people will not want to move because the costs of living are greater there".
9. The Member of Parliament for The Wrekin, Mark Pritchard MP, said in the same debate: (Commons Hansard col.1195) "Shropshire has a long, proud tradition of service in Her Majesty's armed forces, both on the front line and in the defence supply chain."
10. The long term practicality and impact of the co-location policy, and its wider effects on the defence services, is a separate matter from the Committee's current questioning about Strategic Lift. (We would trust that the maintenance of a defence footprint across the UK would be an outcome of MoD location policies.)
11. Therefore the immediate purpose of this note is to draw the Committee's attention to the matter of whether Strategic Lift will itself have an adequate and continuing DLO back-up within the UK, during the current and foreseeable UK commitments in the Middle East. We believe that the co-location activity for ESPPA may need to be reconsidered for the time being.
29 March 2007
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