Facilities key to defence training

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Derek Twigg MP, Under Secretary of State for Defence, talks to PSCA International's Matthew D'Arcy about what lies ahead in bringing a new flexible approach to learning through the Defence Training Review.

In January 2007, Defence Secretary Des Browne announced that the Metrix Consortium had been awarded Preferred Bidder status for Package 1 and provisional Preferred Bidder Status for Package 2 of the Defence Training Review (DTR) programme.¹ Consequently, this would mean MOD St Athan becoming the home of a new tri-service Defence Training campus and one of the largest ever investments in Wales, as well as a revolutionary rationalisation and modernisation of Defence training resources in the UK. Whilst DTR is apparently due to equip Armed Forces personnel with the skills they need in modern warfare, much of the publicity on the announcement focused on the potential threats of the programme.² Picking up on some of these key issues, Matthew D'Arcy spoke to Under Secretary of State for Defence Derek Twigg MP to gather his views on the importance of the facilities.

What were the deciding factors in choosing St Athan as the new tri-service Defence Training campus over bids such as RAF Cosford?

First, consider why we went about this. It gives enhanced training capability. The programme aims to deliver more effective training to meet the joint operational requirements of the front line.

It's a partnership with industry and, through investment, the DTR programme is there to create national centres of excellence and specialist training through modernisation.

We judged the bids of the Metrix consortium to offer the most economically advantageous solution. The judgement was that Metrix achieved the highest technical score and offered the most cost-effective solutions to each package. They won each package independently and separately. It is important to point out that the evaluation outcome is independently verified.

It has been stated that the Defence Training Review will provide the flexibility the MOD requires to match training to Defence needs. Can you elaborate on how the new facilities will provide increased flexibility?

We think the existing Ministry training is working well. However, we want to modernise and adapt to the changing needs of our people. This involves taking advantage of emerging technology to meet the needs of the tri-service operating environment. Our future solution centres on training techniques, for instance simulation and emulation, and where appropriate, distance learning. It is about enhanced training capability and flexibility.

The improvement on infrastructure investment is also very important. At the moment training is focused on too many sites. Focusing on fewer sites gives us the best opportunity to improve training and centre our resources.

Do you anticipate that the new training facilities will provide better value for money than the current situation?

Well, I think I have said before that the existing training is working well. However, it is all about adapting training to meet the changing demands of people. We want to capitalise on the latest training techniques. Partnership with industry is a key area to giving our service men and women the best living and learning environment that we can provide whilst giving us the ability to manage future training environments. We believe we are getting value for money and it is very much about meeting the future training requirements that we see.

What are the benefits to the MOD of transferring risk to the private sector?

Partnership with the private sector does give us flexibility, and this is the key point here, to decrease or increase student throughput. The partner will be able to generate third party income from spare capacity and also dispose of surplus capacity. It also allows for a very important part of the role for industry to bring private sector management expertise and the ability to include significant capital investment at this stage. It is really about delivering a modern and flexible learning environment that will be fit for our service personnel of the future.

Also in terms of industry, they provide innovation and can bring Best Practice from their experience in delivering training elsewhere and in further education.

What are the main challenges you expect to face during the consolidation of training resources?

It is important that we maintain the training packages and, of course, take account of the change taking place to mitigate any risk. But it is also about a training driven programme and an output of service men and women for the front line. We cannot put that in jeopardy and therefore need to make sure that we maintain a very high standard of training and minimise the impact on the relocation of people and resources. It is really about managing the change and making sure that, as we take this forward, we get the best possible training outcomes. We will have a detailed plan to diminish these risks in conjunction with our partner.

When is that plan due to be published?

We will develop that as soon as we can for the five year transition phase.

Clearly in this case the main responsibility of the MOD is ensuring that the needs of its personnel are met. However, has the MOD given due consideration to the impact on not only the St Athan economy, but also the local economies of those areas where training facilities will be closed?

The key thing is to deliver the best training for our personnel – to equip them with the skills that they need. That has been our overriding aim and that's why we have gone down the route that we have. In accordance with MOD policy, there have been a number of regional social economic reports, which have been developed so we have an idea of the impact and the possible future of departmental changes on civilian and service manpower across the UK. But as I have said, the key thing is that we have developed training to meet the needs of our personnel. Of course we will be working with the local authorities in the areas which have been affected because of this decision to get the best possible outcomes. As regards Cosford and Blandford, we anticipate that both of those sites will have a Defence use in the foreseeable future. We are looking at a number of potential opportunities, but this will take time and we will make another announcement on that in the future.

In conclusion I would just like to underline that, because of the rapidly changing technological and joint operational demand on our men and women, we require this innovative and financially flexible approach to learning. The future solution will capitalise on the latest learning techniques to deliver a more modern training solution through partnership with industry and improved investment.

1 http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Trainingand Exercises/DTR.
2 See for instance http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6269807.stm; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/6268205.stm.