The presentation to Parliament of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s nuclear indemnity for Nuclear Management Partners in relation to the contract for the parent body organisation (PBO) for the Sellafield Site Licence Company was the responsibility of BERR and it would not, therefore, be appropriate for the management board of DECC to carry out an investigation. The facts of the case are well known and any further investigation is unnecessary.
The Government are committed to following the correct procedures and keeping the House informed and I am told that BERR did so in this case. Because there were elements of special urgency to achieve the contract award date for Sellafield, BERR followed a non-standard procedure in accordance with Treasury guidance to Departments in Managing Public Money. The then Minister of State for Energy at BERR wrote on 14 July 2008 to the chairmen the PAC and the Business Select Committee asking them to raise any concerns about the proposed indemnity within 14 working days.
The Minister’s intention was that this letter should be put in the House Libraries on the same day, but that did not happen due to an oversight by a member of staff. This was only noticed on 15 October and it was deposited in the Libraries of the House that same day.
SBM Group (comprising Serco, Battelle and Manchester University) is the consortium appointed to run the National Nuclear Laboratory and it assumed responsibility on 6 April. Under the agreement, the consortium has provided various indemnities to the Department but the Department has provided none in return. Because the terms of the agreements remain commercially sensitive, it is not our intention to make the terms public.
The only other bidder to pre-qualify and be invited to participate in dialogue was Qqest, a consortium of Energy Solutions and Qinetiq.