Written question asked by Caroline Lucas (Green Party) on Tuesday, 29 June 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 July 2010. It was answered by Peter Luff (Conservative) on Tuesday, 6 July 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Clyde Submarine Base

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what shortfalls in the Clyde safety management arrangements have been identified by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator at HMNB Clyde; what steps will be taken to address those shortfalls; and when he expects those shortfalls to have been addressed.

Answer: Following an inspection, a demonstration exercise or permissioning of an activity, the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) may identify and agree findings of non-compliance with authorisation conditions. Findings are tracked and reviewed monthly, quarterly or annually depending on their significance.DNSR has identified one finding relating to the HMNB Clyde Safety Management Arrangements, which is as follows:""The process to define how Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde's Intelligent Customer role is fulfilled needs to be established within Safety Management Arrangements. This process must define the Intelligent Customer function and ensure that stakeholders, such as BAE Systems, MOD Project Teams and other suppliers of supporting services have adequate reciprocal arrangements.""As a result of this finding, the role of intelligent customer has been addressed through a wider review. The organisational change proposal associated with that review has been endorsed by the Clyde Nuclear Safety Committee and has now been delivered to DNSR for consideration, with the aim of resolving the issue within two to three months.

Secondary information