Submission from Mr L Hale, Company Secretary,
St Helena Line Limited
OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
Our attention has been drawn to a submission
by Mr Andrew Bell dated 15 October 2007 to the Foreign Affairs
Select Committee inquiry into the Overseas Territories.[253]
Mr Bell's evidence is, unfortunately, inaccurate in a number of
respects as regards the relationship of The St Helena Line Limited
(SHL) with Crown Agents and several of the other issues raised
have been the subject of correspondence involving the Department
for International Development (DEID) and National Audit Office.
At Paragraph 1.3 of his submission Mr Bell states
that SHL is a branch of Crown Agents. This is incorrect as SHL
is a UK registered company which acts for the St Helena Government
(SHG) in holding legal title of the RMS St Helena. The company
was formed at the behest of HMG and SHG. Its core objective is
the provision of a safe and reliable shipping service to meet
the needs of St Helena (as determined by SHG) at the lowest achievable
cost and demand upon funding made available by the DFID. SHL operates
under a formal agreement with SHG and DFID, To assist with the
achievement of this objective, SHL engages the services of third
party ship managers. Since 2001, when the contract with Curnow
Shipping Limited (a company of which Mr Bell was a director) was
terminated, the ship management contract has been held by Andrew
Weir Shipping Limited.
In the same paragraph Mr Bell refers to Crown
Agents' "hired in shipping consultant". Again this statement
is inaccurate and no consultants are provided by Crown Agents
to SHL. Following the formation of SHL, Crown Agents was requested
by SHG and DFID to nominate a Chairman for the company's Board
of Directors and to provide certain administrative services relating
to the company's operations. The shipping consultant was appointed
by SHL with the approval of its Principals to assist SHL to meet
its objectives.
In Paragraph 1.4 Mr Bell states that control
of SHL has been left with Crown Agents. As will be clear from
the preceding paragraphs this statement is also incorrect.
Finally, in Paragraph 1.8 Mr Bell asserts that
SHL and Crown Agents have never been required to openly bid for
their government contract. As will be evident from the foregoing,
it would be difficult to envisage a situation in which SHL might
be required to bid for the very service for which it was established.
30 January 2008
253 Ev 259. Back
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