Commenting on the news that the MOD had awarded a £31m Early Training Transformation (ETT) contract to the Metrix consortium, Vale of Glamorgan MP, John Smith, said:“This news demonstrates yet again the Government’s commitment to St.Athan. The St. Athan project is making good progress. It’s tremendous that this record investment is going ahead at St. Athan. I want people and businesses here in the Vale of Glamorgan and Wales to benefit the most from this project over the next 25 to 30 years. That’s why I will continue to work hard to maximize the benefits for local people and businesses.”

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has spoken of the huge benefits the future Defence Technical College (DTC) will bring to South Wales declaring that the College will become a model for training in the UK.

Mr Hain, who was speaking at the Wales in London Summer Reception at the Naval & Military Club in St James’s Square, London on June 25th, recognised the importance of the College as a centre for the development of key skills in communications, aeronautical and electro-mechanical engineering. These are skills, Mr Hain said, which will be invaluable both to the UK Armed Forces, to Wales and to the wider economy.

“Investment in training of the type offered to men and women at the future Defence Technical College will help Britain to keep its place as a leader in key global industries such as aerospace.

We all know that that the UK produces some of the world’s best trained military personnel and the Defence Technical College in St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan will help ensure that this reputation is maintained by Britain as we face the challenges of this century.”

Wales in London is a non-party political organisation which seeks to support Welsh interests in the capital. It was formed in May 1994 from the members of the London Welsh Publicity Society and the London Chapter of the Institute of Welsh Affairs joined forces to form Wales in London.

Extract from an interview with Dr. Liam Fox MP, Shadow Defence Secretary, BBC Radio Wales, 5.10.09

PETER JOHNSON: Presenter
Can I ask you briefly, will you say today on this programme whether or not you will commit to support the St Athan Defence Academy, which is very, very important to the Welsh economy?

DR LIAM FOX MP: Shadow Defence Secretary
Well, we have always been very supportive of the St Athan project.  We think it offers a way to get a high quality training and I think that that high quality training has a major role to play.

PETER JOHNSON:
Will you actually ensure it goes ahead, if you become the government?

DR LIAM FOX MP:
Well, we’re in favour of it in principle.  We will look to see how quickly a project like that could actually happen when we undertake our strategic defence review.

PETER JOHNSON:
Thank you very much - Liam Fox, who is the Shadow Defence Secretary.

The following is a speech given by the chairman of Metrix UK, Charles Barrington, at the Conservative Party Welsh Reception, held in Manchester on October 5th. The Reception was attended by the Leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, and by Shadow Chancellor George Osborne

"Mr Cameron, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Gillan, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm Charles Barrington, Chairman of Metrix, and I am delighted to sponsor the Conservative Party Welsh Reception.

I have been told that I have two minutes, so here goes. I have three points to make.

Firstly our challenge is to deliver the best technical military training in the world for our solders, sailors and airmen. We expect much of them, they deliver against that expectation, and they deserve our support. Not just now, not just as service personnel, but in their future lives as valuable members of society. We will give them transportable skills to take with them after they leave the Services. There will be up to 4000 students at any one time at St Athan, and a turnover of up to 20,000 students a year. It will be the largest technical training facility in the country.

I was struck by Michael Gove's announcement today: this project will be the perfect Welsh partner for that initiative.

Secondly, size. This project is worth up to half a billion a year in economic terms to Wales, never mind the third party spend by students, their families, employers, and visitors. We will be looking to build close relationships with the Welsh university sector, and to augment the skills strategy espoused by the Assembly Government.

Thirdly, in these challenging times, this project is cost effective and value for money. Cancelling the project does not save £12bn: our job is to spend that £12bn (which is the MOD's existing training budget) more effectively.

Lastly, and I would like to leave you with this point. The Military Covenant demands that we provide the best training, the best accommodation, and the best future for the young men and women who put their lives on the line for you and for our country.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have an excellent evening."

Cameron "committed" to a planned defence training academy

Mr Cameron, speaking on the opening day of his party's annual conference in Manchester,
insisted he was "committed" to a planned £12bn defence training academy in the Vale of Glamorgan, which promises to create 5,000 jobs.

But he said the scheme would have to be reviewed first.

Mr Cameron said he wanted to see the defence training academy at St Athan - with its promised 5,000 jobs - go ahead but said there should also be a strategic defence review.
He said: "Everyone wants to see it happen, wants it to go ahead...." More…

Only a curmudgeon would be blind to the benefits of modern motorways but one of their failings is that they neutralise landscape. The surrounding countryside flashes by in a blur, leaving us oblivious to some wonderful mini-regions of the UK. One such is the Vale of Glamorgan. To many people it is little more than a piece of Welsh no-man’s-land on the M4 between the outskirts of Cardiff and Bridgend. Yet this vale seems likely to be a boom area in the next decade.

The flat, dairy farming countryside is very similar in appearance to parts of Devon in west England. It is sprinkled with villages such as Colwinston, St Nicholas and Bonvilston and, like Devon, it has a dramatic coastline. The poet Dannie Abse, who has owned a house in Ogmore for decades, has written frequently about its storm-tossed cliffs and the marvellous “chemical” sunsets. It is little wonder, then, that the Vale of Glamorgan has become a commuter belt for Cardiff’s high-fliers. This is where some of the principality’s media and sports stars live, including rugby player Ieuan Evans, former England cricket captain Tony Lewis and singer Charlotte Church. It is an area much sought after by returning expatriates and incomers from across the border in England. Estate agency Watts and Morgan, which has two offices in the vale, records that 24 per cent of its buyers came from outside Wales in 2007.

Of course the property market in the Vale of Glamorgan has suffered in line with the rest of the UK during the recession. According to the Council for Mortgage Lenders, house prices have dropped 16 per cent in the past year. There are, too, the familiar horror stories of individual homes plummeting in value. Gareth Davies, of Watts and Morgan, says: “I sold a substantial home in Dinas Powys for £1.75m in 2005. It is currently for sale again, this time for £1.15m, and the owners do not look like finding a buyer. Broadly speaking, prices are down to 2004 levels.”

Yet regeneration is in the air. At St Athan, subject to final planning permission being granted next month, the Ministry of Defence aims to build a £12bn Defence Technical College. This project is intended to meet the training requirements of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force and will be designed to equip young sailors, soldiers and airmen with the high-tech skills needed in today’s forces. It will have facilities for 2,000 students, most of whom will live on site, and for 700 training staff, who will largely need private housing.

Next to the technical college, the MoD also plans to build a business park for aerospace companies, notably those that work in aircraft repairs. The location is ideal as companies will be able to carry out their tests at St Athan airstrip. Rob Quick, director of environmental and economic regeneration for the Vale of Glamorgan, says: “These two projects will be an enormous boost to the area. It will bring 1,500 construction jobs in the first place and then it will stimulate up-skilling of the employment pool as local people seek jobs with the new aerospace companies.

“In the long term there are bound to be spin-off benefits for the leisure and tourism industries. The students will have visitors; passing out [graduation] parades will be held; more people will be made aware of this part of the world. The aerospace park, meanwhile, will bring well qualified high-earners here.”

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Industry welcomes radical reform

Defence companies and industry lobby groups broadly welcomed the publication yesterday of a radical plan to reform procurement practices at the Ministry of Defence but raised concerns about funding for defence programmes. The review by Bernard Gray, a former adviser to the Ministry of Defence, highlighted that the defence equipment programme was hugely overheated and suffers from perverse incentives that encourage delay and spiralling costs. On average, programmes overrun by about five years and costs increase by about £300m. The costs to industry and the MoD created by systemic delays add up to between £900m and £2.2bn each year. Mr Gray recommended that strategic defence reviews should be conducted every couple of years to rebalance spending plans, and that the equipment programme be audited annually to ensure it is affordable. Alex Dorrian, chief executive of Thales UK, said the fact that there was a significant budget gap came as little surprise to an industry that is used to seeing programmes delayed in order to fit the money available. "That's why we really strongly support the idea of a strategic defence review at some regularity," he said. "At the end of the day, it is better for us to know what the government would like to do so we know where to invest rather than sailing blind." He added that the emphasis on speeding up decision making "clearly saves money, because in this business time is money. We stand ready to work with the MoD on their targets." Ian Godden, chairman of the ADS, the UK's Aerospace, Defence and Security industry lobby group, said that the "mismatch" between funding commitments and expectations had created the current problems and warned that a fully funded defence review was crucial to avoiding similar issues in the future. Meanwhile, Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, said that the Gray review offered wider lessons for how to reform the public sector. "Bernard's report shows the scope for driving up productivity and attacking inefficiency in the delivery of public goods and services," he said. "The defence industry has a strong interest in a more sustainable approach to procurement, and in protecting investment in research and technology. And the whole country has an equal interest in providing maximum support to our frontline services, rather than seeing resources frittered away." Paul Lester, chief executive of VT Group, said: "If the report is adopted in full or in part there is an opportunity for service groups like VT Group to reduce costs and improve performance through increased outsourcing." Some executives were more cautious, however, wary of Mr Gray's most radical proposal: the suggestion that the MoD should outsource its equipment procurement and support arm in order to improve its ability to keep programmes to budget. "With any change programme you don't want to kill the patient," said one senior defence executive. "The systems and people within the MoD are simply not capable of that degree of change." More plausible, the executive said, was an incremental process in which industry took over management of non-core defence activities and bought out organisations such as the Defence Support Group already run along commercial lines. The defence review may bring some less favourable news when it arrives next year. Lord Drayson, the minister in charge of defence acquisition reform, said he was prepared to take tough decisions to bring the equipment expenditure back into line with the budget. Defence dilemma The two new aircraft carriers are expected to cost about £4.6bn. Some £1.4bn has already been spent, so cancelling both ships would save about £3bn while buying one carrier would lead to savings of £1.5bn Sources: Defence Analysis, FT research The military transport aircraft is more than three years late and at least €2bn over budget. Because the manufacturer, Airbus, has breached its contract terms the UK could technically walk away from the project entirely. But it would have to replace its ageing Hercules with another alternative, so total savings could be minimal

The price tag for the Defence Training Review programme, which aims to centralise technical training for the armed forces in Wales, is £12bn over 30 years. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, recently recommended cancelling the programme but that would not save substantial sums of money as the current training regime would have to continue

Over the summer the MoD agreed to buy 40 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft for around £3bn. The manufacturers argue it is contractually committed to buying another 48 of the combat jets. The MoD however disputes that claim and would save in the region of £3bn by dropping the purchase The government is committed to building three or four new submarines to carry the Trident D5 missiles that provide the UK's nuclear deterrent. The cost of the project will be between £15bn and £20bn. Gordon Brown says he will consider the cost effectiveness of having just three submarines. Strike fighter Currently the MoD is committed to buying 138 of the next generation fighters. But the UK has scope to cut back on the numbers. Around 60 aircraft would be enough to equip one carrier and keep a number of jets for training. That could save up to £7bn. If the carriers were scrapped entirely the F- 35s could be cancelled saving around £10bn.