Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon today unveiled plans to create a single agency to deal with all warship support matters.
Subject to consultation with the Trades Unions, it is planned to merge the functions of the Ships Support Agency and the majority of the Naval Bases and Supply Agency functions, including those of the three Naval Bases at Clyde, Devonport and Portsmouth, into one new organisation - the Warship Support Agency - which will go live in April 2001.
"The creation of the Warship Support Agency will deliver clear cost and operational benefits in managing support to front line ships. It is an early example of the improvements we can make through the creation of a single Defence Logistics Organisation."
Between them, the two existing agencies deliver support to the fleets of the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The Naval Bases and Supply Agency is responsible for the provision of Naval Base facilities and comprises the three Naval Bases at Faslane, Devonport and Portsmouth, along with their associated stores, fuel and ammunition depots and a number of personnel on ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
The Ships Support Agency is primarily responsible for directing the in-service engineering and material support to the Fleet and is represented at each of the Naval Bases and at the two privatised dockyards, Devonport and Rosyth. Both agencies have their headquarters in Bath and are part of the Defence Logistics Organisation, which was created out of the Strategic Defence Review with challenging targets for reducing costs while improving the quality of logistics support to the front line.