Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons he has decided that the Atomic Weapons Establishment will become an arms-length body of his Department.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely evaluates and reviews all major contracts as they near their end dates. As such the MOD conducted a review of the governance model in place for the management of AWE plc in order to ascertain the best means of delivery of core MOD objectives. Following this review the MOD decided to terminate the contract with the consortium AWE ML (the M&O Agreement) under a Termination for Convenience clause

The decision was taken in order to simplify and strengthen the relationship between the MOD and AWE plc, enhancing the MOD's ability to invest in the development of the workforce, technology and infrastructure, and therefore in the future of AWE plc.