St Athan deal on the ropes - QinetiQ dodgy share sale!

no 1219
One in the Eye (page 3) Private Eye Article

The Eyes exposure of the unaffordability and big military risks of plans to privatise defence training in a £12bn PFI deal has angered the man running the project Brigadier Geoff Nield. "I return to you on the subject of the leakage of DTR related material to the press," he writes in a memo. "You will be aware of most of the articles on package 1 [the main, PFI, element of training reform] which have appeared in Private Eye." What really riled Nield was our exposure of of the cancellation of a planned announcement before parliament broke up. "The act of someone to release this latter information to a private eye journalist is clearly illegal, contrary to to the official secrets act," he mutters darkly.

Nield might be over-egging it as the official secrets act contains a public interest defence. Or maybe he thinks the public would be better off not knowing that the deal, which the MOD has refused to justify financially or operationally, is on the ropes. Or that the MOD's own secret assessment betrays the risk that "training output fails to meet the requirements of of operational command ".

D-day is due this month with an announcement on signing the PFI contract - or given the problems and latest rumours that the sale of MOD sites on which the deal depends has fallen through - abandoning PFI altogether.

All of which makes the timing of last weeks sale by the MOD of its remaining 19.8% stake in QinetiQ, owner of Metrix, highly unusual. If the MoD pulls the defence training deal. QinetiQ's share price will be hit and questions will be asked about whether the forthcoming announcement was a factor in the sell off decision and if so, whether inside information played a part.

If the deal goes ahead and QinetiQ's stock rises, however, another badly timed government sale will have cost the government millions. Remember you read it here first.

pic Vale of Glamorgan - Council briefed on defence training academy plans

During a visit to South Wales, Major General Tim Inshaw and Brigadier Geoff Nield visited the Civic Offices to meet council cabinet members, ...

see also page 6 on EDS. (whose interest is he looking after?)
Former long serving armed forces minister Adam Ingrams appointment as £50,000 a year consultant for the Eye's favourite firm, 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......

Comment
Not a word of any problems like unaffordability and big military risks by Wing commander Richard Read in his propaganda article titled ACADEMY logbook in the Gem on Aug 5th ..although he is described as site director, working closely with Metrix and the MoD on the defence training review programme ....Read tells us "While much debate ensues over the precise number of jobs that will be created; even at its lowest, likely conservative, estimate it will be in the thousands with evident positive boost for the local and South Wales economy"!!!
..The new Defence Technical Academy is building on S
Cowbridge Today, Wales - News 11:13 8-Aug-08
No mention of these either by WAG and friends sham consultation.

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Notes

‘St Athan jobs dwindle while the costs rise’
Cowbridge Today, Wales - News 11:13 8-Aug-08

Plaid chief opposes St Athan academy
Wales Online - Politics News 07:26 6-Sep-08

Brig Geoff Nield. here

Vale of Glamorgan - Council briefed on defence training academy plans

During a visit to South Wales, Major General Tim Inshaw and Brigadier Geoff Nield visited the Civic Offices to meet council cabinet members, ...
www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/our_council/press_office/latest_news/2008/february.../military_academy_plans.aspx - 14k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Vale of Glamorgan council Reports of the Director of

7. Project Management Unit: (i) The Defence Training Academy and

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