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Type
House
Session
Year
Department
Member
Primary member
More
Davey, Valerie (1)
Answering member
Legislative stage
Legislation
Subject
Publisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if he will make a statement about the conclusions of the Quinquennial Review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory. - Inc ref to 354 c1095W, 28 July 2000.
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if he will make a statement about the conclusions of the Quinquennial Review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory. - Inc ref to 354 c1095W, 28 July 2000.
Asked by
Valerie Davey
(Labour)
Answered by
Kim Howells
(Labour)
Answering body
Department of Trade and Industry
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
9 April 2001
For answer on
10 April 2001
Answered on
10 April 2001
Valerie Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement about the conclusions of the
Quinquennial Review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory. [158294]
Dr. Howells: The first stage of the five-yearly Review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) has now been
completed.
NWML will continue as an Executive Agency of the DTI.
NWML is a regulatory body. The current functions of NWML form a coherent group that benefits from being managed as a whole.
Ministers have therefore decided not to proceed with the alternative option considered by the Review, that of transferring the bulk
of NWML's work to NPL Management Ltd. (the company which runs the National Physical Laboratory under contract to the DTI) with a
small policy unit kept in the DTI. This organisational separation of policy from operations would risk reducing the quality of the
work, and has been criticised by interested parties. The present integrated structure is seen as a great strength of NWML.
As announced on 28 July 2000, Official Report, column 1095W, the reviewer recommended that the policy part of NWML should be taken
back into the Department organisationally and that the operational part should be contractorised by merger with NPL, which is
already contractorised. However, the Review Steering Board recommended that this option should not be proceeded with until a
business plan for the merger could be prepared and until Ministers had assessed its value for money and feasibility.
I have now considered the business plan prepared by NPL Management Ltd. and have received further advice from the Review Steering
Board. I have also had the benefit of representations made by many interested parties. I accept that the merger with NPL would
result in financial savings to the Department, but they are relatively modest. However, I have come to the conclusion that the
benefits to the Department, to the users of NWML's services, and to the UK, which arise from having NWML run as an integrated body
outweigh these potential savings.
This announcement will appear on the DTI's website.
Subjects
Consumers; Protection; Measurement; Regulation; Reviews; Laboratories; National Weights and Measures Laboratory
Date
10 April 2001
Reference
158294; 366 c510W
House
House of Commons