Last updated at 14:53, Friday, 13 March 2009

DEFENCE Minister John Hutton, who is overseeing aircraft carrier work taken from his Barrow constituency and moved to Scotland, says shipbuilders decided on the changes and not him.

BAE Submarine Solutions in Barrow was given a £300m subcontract last July when the government ordered two giant Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.

Barrow was to build hull block number three, up to the hanger deck, for each ship.

It was acting as a sub contractor to the main builders in the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, including BAE at its Scottish yards, VT group in Portsmouth, (together as BVT Surface Fleet) and Babcock at its Rosyth, Scotland, and Appledore in Devon, yards.

But former shipyard chief Murray Easton revealed in January, after months of speculation, that Barrow had backed out of building giant blocks, and last week that was made formal with an announcement from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance.

It said the work on each big block was being moved to Clydeside because Barrow did not have the spare resources to build them.

Mr Hutton, whose government has been slammed by Furness Tories for allowing the move, told the Evening Mail this week: “Clearly the Ministry of Defence has to take the advice of the shipbuilder on how and where work on vessels is undertaken and this decision has been one made by the shipbuilder, the Aircraft Carrier Alliance.

“It is the shipbuilder who has altered the strategy in order to best deliver the vessels on time and within costs.”

“Barrow is still benefiting from the Aircraft Carrier programme as the shipyard is undertaking the design work.

“That work has helped secure the design team which is so critical to the future of the yard and future programmes.

Mr Hutton added: “Barrow is currently in a very healthy position and recruitment is still taking place for the hundreds of jobs BAE are looking to appoint to in Barrow.”

The Alliance said: “The previous build strategy had planned for Lower Block 3 to be constructed at BAE Systems Submarine Solutions in Barrow, but existing and future workloads on submarine programmes have led to a lack of capacity to take on the additional carrier work. The team in Barrow will continue to provide engineering support to the build of Lower Block 3.

The Alliance said Lower Block 1 (the bow section) for each ship will be built by Babcock’s yards at Appledore and Rosyth; Lower Block 2 will be built by BVT Surface Fleet in Portsmouth; Lower Blocks 3 and 4 (the stern section) will be built by BVT on the Clyde.

The sponsons (the overhanging upper hull structure) will be manufactured by Babcock Marine; and the two superstructure Islands will be built by BVT in Portsmouth.

Final assembly and integration of the two warships will be undertaken by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance partners at Rosyth.

The ACA has also announced further shipbuilding orders worth up to £150M to UK shipyards. A&P Tyne on Tyneside and Cammell Laird on Merseyside have both been named as preferred bidders for the build of the large central Upper Blocks.

Another £570M in equipment sub-contracts has been let to UK firms.

Geoff Searle, programme director for the carriers, said: “The Aircraft Carrier Alliance has developed a cost effective and low risk build strategy that I am confident will deliver the two carriers in line with the MoD’s requirements.

“It will also ensure that we retain the essential core skills in the UK maritime industry to deliver sovereign naval capability long into the future.

“I am delighted that we have also been able to announce that both the north-east and north-west regions, with their traditional shipbuilding heritage, will contribute to the build of these great ships.”

First published at 11:48, Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk