Nuclear Management Partners

Lord Teverson Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I reassure the noble Lord that we did not dodge the decision. We have taken advice through the work done by the NDA, and my officials were involved in the review throughout the process. The decision made by the NDA was to see this contract go for a further five years to build on the work that has already been done. I remind noble Lords that 90% targets have been reached by NMP in the past five years. It is an incredibly difficult site, as the noble Lord is aware. Of course, there are extremely difficult challenges facing it, and a lot of it has been due to long-term neglect.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, Nuclear Management Partners spends £1.6 billion of taxpayers’ money each year on the decommissioning process, yet it is in an area that is still one of the most deprived in the United Kingdom. What pressure are the Government putting on that organisation to make sure that it builds up local skills and supply chains to the benefit of the people of Cumbria?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I absolutely agree with my noble friend. I assure him that the Energy Act 2004 requires the NDA to consider those very impacts on communities that live nearby. On the example of Sellafield raised by my noble friend, more than 10,000 local people are employed by Sellafield Ltd and there is more than £1 billion of spend. According to the 2011 figures, one-third of that was on local businesses and the supply chain in west Cumbria.