A ROW over the future of the Clyde Naval Base has emerged just days after it published its first ever joint business plan with Babcock Marine, which will lead to more than £120m of savings in operating costs over 10 years.
Conservative party leader David Cameron has raised questions about the base at Faslane after saying he would review the Trident nuclear replacement programme.
Faslane is Scotland's biggest single site employer with a payroll in excess of 6,000 and
Cameron's comments prompted fears that it would be drastically scaled down if the Tories won the next general election.
Senior staff from the base and from Babcock Marine, which is responsible for managing the infrastructure, were last week briefed at a joint meeting on how the two organisations are now working as one integrated team supported by their first business plan, described as "an important milestone" in the partnering arrangement.
The SNP-led Scottish Government, which wants to remove nuclear submarines from Faslane, has been in talks with the base about adopting its working practices in hospitals, local government and other public services.
Ministers have also been impressed by the contribution that the base makes to the wider engineering industry in Scotland.
Babcock is part-way through a six-year extension to its contract to run the base's infrastructure and maintenance contract and is a big provider of apprenticeships. It also has plans to expand its academy at Strathclyde University.
Management were "encouraged" after briefing Jim Mather, the enterprise minister, and Government officials on the work they are doing.
Craig Lockhart, managing director of Babcock Marine, said: "There is a recognition that the Clyde Naval Base is a major contributor to the economy. That is common ground between ourselves and the Scottish Government. I hope there is recognition that it contributes to future engineering talent."
He said there was interest from the Government in the partnership agreement between Babcock and the base which was consolidated last week into their first joint business plan. The partnership is described as "a joint venture without the legal entity" and has already slashed millions from running costs. "This is a model that could be used in the health service and local government and we have had discussions with the enterprise minister and (others in] the Scottish Government and they are interested in looking at it.
"If it can work in a mission critical environment like this one it could work for the health service and so on."
Lockhart said the model was also being embraced by his own bosses who are now looking to roll it out to other Babcock operations.
The business plan would help build on the achievements at Clyde Naval Base over the past five years, he said. Since first signing the agreement in September 2002, Babcock has beaten targets for reducing costs and is now hoping to take £126m out of operational spending over 10 years through such measures as renegotiating supply contracts, improvements in productivity and introducing new systems.
Chris Hockley, the Clyde Naval Base Commodore, said it made sense to replace the supplier-customer relationship and bring the two organisations closer together as one integrated team.
"It is not just about cut, cut and more cuts and doing more with less. It is about doing things better in the-most-value-for-money way. If you make yourself more effective you will be more efficient."
