Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to paragraph 2.22 of the Report by the National Audit Office, Progress on the Sellafield site: an update, published in March 2015, when he was first informed that Nuclear Management Partners had failed to appoint a director of security for Sellafield; and what steps he subsequently took to ensure that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Limited put such a security director in place.

Sellafield has had a Chief Security Officer, reporting directly to the Managing Director, in post at all times. The NAO report refers to the Director of Security, Emergency Management and Resilience Programmes (SERP), which is a new post specifically created to manage delivery of the portfolio of security, emergency management and resilience related programmes.

Staffing decisions at the Site Licence Companies are the responsibility of the Board of the SLC. As was appropriate the NDA and DECC were kept informed throughout the process. The new Director started in post on 5 January 2015.