27/08/2008

St Athan latest news - next meeting

1.Next meeting Mon 8th Sept 6pm Temple of Peace

2.Cosford letter to audit office

3. MP Calls for St Athan Rail Stop (oh yeah!)

4. Defence Training Review Over Budget

5. See the Private Eye article ...

The full article can be viewed here.

1. Look forward to seeing you at the next meeting at Temple of Peace 6pm Mon 8th Sept...please send items for the agenda.


2. Cosford letter to audit office

please download or use this copy below and send in and a copy to your AM and MP would be useful

Telephone Please reply to:

INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS

To: Tim Burr
Comptroller and Auditor General
Private Office
National Audit Office
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road
London
SW1W 9SP
_______________________________

DEFENCE TRAINING REVIEW COSTS TO DATE

Dear Mr Burr,

I am writing to you concerning Package One of the Defence Training Review (DTR) Transformation programme, which is a programme worth some £12 Billion allegedly. It will be one of the most expensive PFI/PPP’s project ever undertaken by the Ministry of Defence and will be amongst the largest partnering arrangement ever undertaken in the United Kingdom and yet to date the NAO has never reported on this matter. I am extremely concerned about the escalating cost to the taxpayer that this project is incurring. I am aware to the vast amount of money being spent on consultants, some of whom are being paid at £1200 a day. The contract’s length of 30 years and the unheard of first breakpoint at fifteen years is a recipe for spiralling costs and a major impact upon the public purse.


I believed the MoD option selected for delivery of defence training would depend upon what is best for defence, combining both operational and value for money considerations. Work on this programme has been going on since 2001. To date every deadline has passed with announcements of further delays, which must increasingly mean additional expenditure of public monies. In July 2008 in the House of Commons, Minister Bob Ainsworth said “the financial appraisals have thrown up some difficult issues” ! He also talked about “affordability issues”, presumably the same “affordability issues” as mentioned by his predecessors Tom Watson, Don Touhig and Ivor Caplin who also knew that this programme is unaffordable.

You should also be aware that public monies were spent on Package 2 of DTR in trying to get a PPP/PFI solution, only for this to fall apart on “affordability issues” How much public money was spent on this failure and considering that the MOD have just given another few hundreds of millions pound to Package 2 to develop a different approach, it is disturbing to know that you have never audited the accounts of the MoD on this matter. Indeed your own literature states”The role of the National Audit Office is to audit the accounts of all government departments and agencies as well as a wide range of other public bodies, and report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which these bodies have used public money.”

Therefore I would request that as a matter of urgency the NAO conduct an enquiry or investigation into this programme as you had originally timetabled for in 2008/2009.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,
.............................................................

3. MP Calls for St Athan Rail Stop

Published by Cheryl under Cosford, MoD

Yesterdays article reported that the cost of the Defence Trainining Review had now increased by £1bn to £13bn. An article on WalesOnLine reports that Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith is calling for a dedicated rail stop to be built at St Athan, which will add more cost to the project. He thinks this will benefit the Welsh economy and ease congestion:

A DEDICATED rail stop should be built to serve the Defence Technical Academy in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith has said.

Thousand of trainees from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will attend the £13bn academy.

Mr Smith said: “In order for the Welsh economy to take full advantage from this record investment, the St Athan site must be served by an improved transport system.

“There are operational railway tracks running within very close proximity to the site. I believe there is a very strong case for building a dedicated rail stop at the academy. It will help reduce road traffic congestion, and prevent commuters and visitors to the academy the inconvenience of having to get off at Rhoose or Llantwit Major stations and transfer to a bus shuttle service.

“I will be writing to the Welsh Assembly Government, the local planning authority and the consortium responsible for building the academy asking them to consider building a rail halt at the site for the good of the Welsh economy.”

In addition WalesOnLine reports that a proposed road link that will service St Athan could cost up to £135m of tax payers money. Currently there are approximately 600 Civil Servants plus many military and private sector workers employed at RAF Cosford, the majority of these staff would be expected to move from Cosford to St Athan if the Metrix plans go ahead. Cosford is situated 800 meters from a motorway and already has it’s own railway station.

Is it right that so much taxpayers money is needed to support the Metrix bid is surely a question that needs to be asked. This is another reason that we are asking members to write to the NAO and get them to scrutinise this project which has already cost the tax payer millions in wasted consultant fees.

No responses yet

Aug 22 2008

4. Defence Training Review Over Budget

Published by Cheryl under Cosford, MoD

The latest edition of Private Eye reports that Brigadier Geoff Nield has let it slip that the cost of the Defence Training Review programme had gone up and is now over budget.

At a local “Stakeholders” meeting in the Vale of Glamorgan, home to a proposed new defence academy, the Ministry of Defence’s officer in charge, Brigadier Geoff Nield, let slip that the price had gone up from £11bn to £ 12bn. As the deal was slated to save the MoD just £400m at the old price, it seems the scheme will not only expose the armed forces to serious operational risks (see Eye 1213) but will actually cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions more than keeping training in-house.

The increasing delays to implementing the project has led to the National Audit Office (NAO) pulling its plans to investigate the deal. Members are encouraged to write to the NAO requesting that they undertake a review of the public monies spent on DTR. There is a link to a sample letter below, this can be amended as you feel fit.

Silly John Smith!!

MP Calls for St Athan Rail Stop

Published by Cheryl under Cosford, MoD

Yesterdays article reported that the cost of the Defence Trainining Review had now increased by £1bn to £13bn. An article on WalesOnLine reports that Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith is calling for a dedicated rail stop to be built at St Athan, which will add more cost to the project. He thinks this will benefit the Welsh economy and ease congestion:

A DEDICATED rail stop should be built to serve the Defence Technical Academy in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith has said.

Thousand of trainees from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will attend the £13bn academy.

Mr Smith said: “In order for the Welsh economy to take full advantage from this record investment, the St Athan site must be served by an improved transport system.

“There are operational railway tracks running within very close proximity to the site. I believe there is a very strong case for building a dedicated rail stop at the academy. It will help reduce road traffic congestion, and prevent commuters and visitors to the academy the inconvenience of having to get off at Rhoose or Llantwit Major stations and transfer to a bus shuttle service.

“I will be writing to the Welsh Assembly Government, the local planning authority and the consortium responsible for building the academy asking them to consider building a rail halt at the site for the good of the Welsh economy.”

In addition WalesOnLine reports that a proposed road link that will service St Athan could cost up to £135m of tax payers money. Currently there are approximately 600 Civil Servants plus many military and private sector workers employed at RAF Cosford, the majority of these staff would be expected to move from Cosford to St Athan if the Metrix plans go ahead. Cosford is situated 800 meters from a motorway and already has it’s own railway station.

Is it right that so much taxpayers money is needed to support the Metrix bid is surely a question that needs to be asked. This is another reason that we are asking members to write to the NAO and get them to scrutinise this project which has already cost the tax payer millions in wasted consultant fees.

No responses yet

PRIVATE EYE keeps up the story!!

Defence Training Review Over Budget

Published by Cheryl under Cosford, MoD

The latest edition of Private Eye reports that Brigadier Geoff Nield has let it slip that the cost of the Defence Training Review programme had gone up and is now over budget.

At a local “Stakeholders” meeting in the Vale of Glamorgan, home to a proposed new defence academy, the Ministry of Defence’s officer in charge, Brigadier Geoff Nield, let slip that the price had gone up from £11bn to £ 12bn. As the deal was slated to save the MoD just £400m at the old price, it seems the scheme will not only expose the armed forces to serious operational risks (see Eye 1213) but will actually cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions more than keeping training in-house.

The increasing delays to implementing the project has led to the National Audit Office (NAO) pulling its plans to investigate the deal. Members are encouraged to write to the NAO requesting that they undertake a review of the public monies spent on DTR. There is a link to a sample letter below, this can be amended as you feel fit.

St Athan secret and on the rocks?

St Athan secret and on the rocks?

UKDF Defence Viewpoints

Up-to-the-minute opinions and perspectives on defence and security issues from policy makers and opinion formers.

UKDF Defence Viewpoints - http://ukdf.blogspot.com/

15 August 2008

“Cloak of invisibility” over St Athan’s progress

It seems the MoD still wants to play its cards close to its chest over the development of RAF St Athan. Witness the following, taken from a recent FOI request for the Minutes of Board meetings on the matter,

“The last Programme Executive Board (PEB) Minutes (dated 16 June 2008) contain some sensitive Programme information which could undermine the confidentiality of the MOD’s position in advance of continuing negotiations with the Metrix Consortium. Such information is of a restricted nature and underpins our negotiating position, disclosure of which could hinder the MOD’s ability to achieve value for money. It is not in the public interest to have this position eroded and therefore these Minutes will not be published. The Minutes will be withheld under section 43 (Commercial Interests) of the FOI Act.”

As with all these kind of things, there is weighing up of the pros and cons attached to the response. Tellingly, we have,

“Disclosure of the information for Package 1 contained in the Minutes of the requested PEB meeting would undermine the confidentiality of the MOD’s position in advance of the further negotiations with Metrix. These further discussions are central to the Programme’s way forward in concluding the clarification and confirmation phase of the work (which will inform the investment decision).”

So, basically, the devil is going to be in the detail, and the MOD wants to make sure that the small print is best suited to its purposes. This does beg a few questions, of course: what is the MOD looking to include, what are the chances of it getting the outcome it’s looking for, and what will it get in the end?

It seems only time will tell…

Footnote:

By way of reminder, Package 1 is all about training for engineering and communications, in particular for REME and the Royal Signals, and it must, by EU law, be assessed separately from Package 2 (training for logistics, policing, languages, intelligence, and security, involving other bases). The initial DTR decisions split the two for the sake of “risk management” (see [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmwelaf/1657/1657.pdf] , which coincidently includes an MOD promise to “meet our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act”, and [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmwelaf/1129/1129.pdf]), even though Metrix ended up the preferred bidder for both.

UKDF Defence Viewpoints: “Cloak of invisibility” over St Athan’s ...
  1. It seems the MoD still wants to play its cards close to its chest over the development of RAF St Athan. Witness the following, taken from a recent FOI ...
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  2. KDF Defence Viewpoints: Energy security background to the Russian ...

    The Jihadist threat at grassroots · “Cloak of invisibility” over St Athan’s progress · Ike Skelton: U.S. needs comprehensive strategy to . ...
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  3. UKDF Defence Viewpoints: The UK MoD Defence plan 2008-2012

    “Cloak of invisibility” over St Athan’s progress · Ike Skelton: U.S. needs comprehensive strategy to ... The MOD's Grand Challenge · Border hotspots ...
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07/08/2008

squaddies rampaging around llanwit major?

In the current edition of The Gem (vale of glamorgan's free newspaper) John Smith MP and Tory AM Alun Cairns (whats he got to do with the Vale) launch a dual attack on Plaid Cllr Nic Hodges who apparently made remarks at the st.athan public meeting about 'squaddies rampaging around llantwit major' as well as questioning the academy. The headline of the article is 'Critics ask Plaid: do you really want St. Athan?'."

St Athan Spin

the reply to a letter to the St Athan Consultation regarding ethical concerns around the role of Raytheon in the Metrix Consortium. (see below). It echos the line of the Welsh media and politicians.

Dear

Thank you for your email regarding Raytheon and its role in the Defence Technical Academy (DTA).

In the first instance, I would like to reassure you that Raytheon does not manufacture cluster bombs or any associated delivery vehicles. Any assertion to the contrary is based on dated information that is no longer correct. In addition, Raytheon has excellent relations with the Norwegian Government and continues to deliver a wide range of products to them, none of which are related to cluster munitions.

In context of the DTA, Raytheon Professional Services, the company’s training arm, will be involved in providing technical training to DTA personnel in aeronautical and electro mechanical engineering and communications/IT disciplines.

Raytheon Professional Services is well practised at delivering training around the world, in both the private and public sectors, and its clients range from NASA to General Motors. I hope this addresses your concerns, but if you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to be in touch using one of the following methods below.

Kind Regards,

Gemma
St Athan Project Public Consultation Services Call: 0845 618 0016

Write to:Camargue Group Ltd, Freepost RRKG-AZTG-JLJX,St Athan Consultation
Eagle Tower,Montpellier Drive,Cheltenham,GL50 1TA

Email:
enquiries@st-athanconsultation.co.uk
Visit: www.st-athanconsultation.co.uk

Companies Excluded from the Investment Universe

...Defence and Space Company) EADS Finance BV General Dynamics Corporation L3 Communications Holdings Inc. Lockheed Martin Corp. Raytheon Co. Thales SA. The press release from the Ministry of Finance The recommendation from the Advisory Council on Ethics

(Ministry of Finance, 03.02.2007)



Recommendation on Exclusion of Cluster Weapons from the Government Petroleum Fund Oslo, 16 June 2005

postmottak@fin.dep.no;

...Corp, L3 Communications Holdings Inc, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Alliant Techsystems...from the Government Petroleum Fund. Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site, 3 http://www.raytheon.com/products/stellent/groups/public..

(Ministry of Finance, 02.09.2005)

Norway excludes 3 arms producers from oil fund [Reuters]

Read the recommendation here (pdf)

The Ethical Guidelines List of Excluded Companies

Recommendation on Exclusion of Cluster Weapons from the Government Petroleum Fund- The Advisory Council on Ethics for the Government Petroleum Fund recommends that the companies General Dynamics Corp, L3 Communications Holdings Inc, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Alliant Techsystems Inc, EADS Co (European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company) and Thales SA be excluded from the Petroleum Fund because they are presumed to be involved in production of cluster weapons.

Serco Group Plc should be kept out of Wales because of its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons.

Why are our politicans not calling for the government to have ethical guidelines for investment like Norway.

Council on Ethics- Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global - Read more here : http://www.regjeringen.no/templates/Kampanje.aspx?id=434879&epslanguage=EN-GB

The role of the Council on Ethics for the Government Pension Fund - Global is to provide evaluation on whether or not investment in specified companies is inconsistent with the established ethical guidelines. The Ministry of Finance makes decisions on the exclusion of companies from the Fund's investment universe based on the Council's recommendations. Both the Ministry's decisions and the Council's recommendations will be made publicly available on this website.

Recommendation on the exclusion of the company Serco Group Plc. The company is recommended for exclusion because of its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons.

As we have been saying for years...Serco - one to watch http://www.aldermaston.net/campaigns/serco_2004.php


05/08/2008

Police drop top secret NETCU guide to policing protest

Internet coup! NETCU anti-protest guide hits the public domain

5 August, 2008 here · No Comments

Oops! Police at the Climate Camp in Kent have dropped a clanger - or more specifically a copy of their demonstrators=turrists handbook, the NETCU Policing Protest Pocket Legislation Guide (“For Police Use Only”).

NETCU? Who they? Well, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit “forms part of the national policing response to domestic extremism”, and gives advice to individual police forces and other ‘enforcement agencies’ relating to this. There’s even a handy little biography on the inside page of Policing Protest (with even handier contact details):

NETCU provides tactical advice and guidance on policing single-issue domestic extremism. The unit also supports companies and other organisations that are the targets of domestic extremism campaigns. NETCU reports through the National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism (NCDE) to the Association of Chief Police Officers Terrorism and Allied Matters - ACPO(TAM) committee.

National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU)
PO Box 525, Huntingdon, PE29 9AL
Tel: 01480 425091
Fax: 01480 425007
Email: mailbox@netcu.pnn.police.uk
Web: www.netcu.org.uk

Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to public authorities in England and Wales. Under the Act, organisations listed in Schedule 1 to the Act - either by name or by description - have to provide public access to information they hold. NETCU is not a public authority as defined by Schedule 1 and therefore there are no obligations on NETCU to disclose information under the Act. Police forces are advised not to release this guide following freedom of information requests.

Edition 2 - November 2007

It could be seen as a successor to projects such as ARNI, the Animal RIghts National Index which was subsequently rolled out to encompass a wide range of environmental and social activists.

One can also see it in the context of the ‘Green Scare‘, the post-COINTELPRO pursuit of the ELF and others in the United States.

And let us also consider NETCU’s targeting of groups it considers to be engaged in ‘tertiary terrorism’ (most notably animal rights campaigns such as SHAC).

From creating databases which log the activities of entirely lawful groups and individuals, through to the arbitrary casting of politically-motivated behaviours beyond the spheres of the lawful, unlawful or criminal into the less rationally-bound romper room labelled terrorism (with all its attendant emotional responses); that is the nature of the NETCU game.

In other words, through bureaucratic manoeuvring, artless sophistry and ideologically-motivated authoritarianism, NETCU shifts the goalposts for what passes for legal protest. Thus a terrorist is not defined by her or his actions, but by having been labelled a terrorist (by way of ‘domestic extremist’). Thus terrorism is not “the systematic use of terror, esp as a means of coercion” (Penguin Pocket English Dictionary, 1990), it is any activity undertaken by those previously defined by the new terms of reference as ‘terrorists’.

That the NETCU website is liberally sprinkled with pictures of yogurt-weaving peace marchers, clowns(!) and, erm, the Countryside Alliance should give an indication of exactly whom the organisation considers a ‘domestic extremist’ - that’s right, pretty much anyone who ever dares dissent from the Westminster-approved script.

So read the Policing Protest book and find out how you should behave in future lest you accidentally become a dangerous terrorist.

Links: