Babcock International Group
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This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch. |
Babcock International Group plc is a British multinational support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety- and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK Ministry of Defence and Network Rail.
Babcock is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Contents
Background
The company has four operating divisions with overseas operations based in Africa, North America & Australia. These are: Marine & Technology, Defence & Security, Support Services & International.
It is the world's 41st-largest defence contractor measured by 2010 defence revenues, and the third-largest based in the UK (after BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce). [1]
Current activities
Nuclear
Babcock is the UK's largest specialist nuclear support services organisation, employing over 3,500 nuclear engineers, scientists and technicians. [2]
In September 2009, it bought one of the last parts of the UK's state owned nuclear industry, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's commercial clean-up business, UKAEA Ltd. Babcock paid £50 million for this, reportedly narrowly outbidding AMEC and US rival Babcock & Wilcox.[3]
This extended Babcock’s existing nuclear skills, bringing extra expertise in waste categorisation, decommissioning of high hazard facilities, encapsulation and storage of hazardous materials and transportation of waste. The deal also provided Babcock with its first operational Tier 1 position in the civil nuclear market and a direct relationship with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, complementing its existing Tier 1 position in the military nuclear market. [4] [3]
In April 2012, Babcock Dounreay Partnership (BDP), a consortium of Babcock International Group PLC (50%), CH2M HILL (30%) and URS (20%) was selected as preferred bidder and eventually awarded a £1.6bn contract by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for the management and decommissioning of the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness, Scotland.
Revolving door
In October 2012 Lieutenant General Paul Newton CBE, the Former Commander Force Development and Training, Army sought permission from ACOBA to accept a part-time appointment with Babcock International Group as a Member of its Defence Advisory Board.
- When considering this application, the Committee noted that Lt Gen Newton had had only occasional, limited official contact with his prospective employer, which did not involve any contractual dealings with it; that he
had had no access to commercially sensitive information concerning his prospective employer's competitors; and that he would not be taking up the appointment until September 2012, some five months after his last day of service. The Prime Minister accepted the Committee's recommendation that, on the understanding that Lt Gen Newton would not draw on privileged information available to him whilst in post, his application be approved subject to the conditions that, for 12 months from his last day of service, he should not advise his new employer on any bid or contract directly relating to the work of the MOD, and that, for two years from the same date, he should not become personally involved in lobbying Government on behalf of his new employer.
Lobbying firms
- Interel Consulting, who also handle the CH2M HILL account [5]
- Hanover Communications [6]
Secondments
In February 2013, NuclearSpin.org revealed that Babcock had seconded two staff to the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) at the Health and Safety Executive. One was a technical assistant to the Civil Nuclear Reactor Programme; the other, an employee to help with the ‘Development and review of ONR wide processes’. The ONR said that all secondees are paid for by the nuclear industry and it has safeguards in place to ensure there is no conflict of interest. It added that no secondee works on matters directly related to their parent organisation.[7]
People
- Norman Harrison - Director of Strategic Development at Babcock International Group and president of the Nuclear Institute
Affiliations
- Babcock Dounreay Partnership
- UKAEA
- Associate Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies - member (this APG is a client of Bellenden lobbying firm.
Contact, Resources and Notes
Contact
- Website: www.babcockinternational.com
Resources
Notes
- ↑ Defense News Top 100 for 2010. Defense News"
- ↑ Nuclear, Babcock website, acc 15 August 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Babcock buys nuclear clean-up arm for £50m, The Telegraph, acc 15 August 2012
- ↑ Babcock International Group PLC: Acquisition of UKAEA Limited
- ↑ UKPAC, Register Period 1 September 2011 to 30 November 2011
- ↑ Association of Professional Political Consultants. APPC Register Entry, 1 Sep - 30 Nov 2010
- ↑ Richard Cookson, Nuclear industry secondments to Government departments responsible for policy and regulation, Spinwatch, 22 February 2013
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