Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the revision of accommodation at the MOD Hebrides Range, West Camp, and the implications for staff at that faculty.

West Camp, Ministry of Defence Hebrides Range, is operated by QinetiQ under a commercial contract. Accommodation will be rationalised to align it to current and projected usage rates, as part of the Air Ranges Modernisation Project. This will also see significant investment in modern equipment for the range, including new radars. The savings, together with operating cost reductions, will allow investment in essential systems, thus helping to secure the future of the range for the longer term. The implications for QinetiQ employees and other staff will be managed by the company, which has indicated that there may be a small number of redundancies.