Sir Robert Nelson to head independent review for QinetiQ
The Board of QinetiQ Group plc today announces that it has appointed Sir Robert Nelson, a former High Court Judge, to oversee the company’s formal investigation that is underway into the conclusions and recommendations made in the Haddon-Cave report into the loss of Nimrod XV230.
Sir Robert will address the conclusions and recommendations made by Charles Haddon-Cave QC in the Nimrod Review. He will also assess the processes, structure and reporting requirements covering QinetiQ's advisory work in the UK and will propose the actions he thinks QinetiQ should take in response to the Haddon-Cave report.
He will provide an interim report to the Board of QinetiQ Group plc before the end of 2009. In the meantime all airworthiness advisory projects have been given an additional reporting line and the two QinetiQ employees named in the Haddon-Cave report have been suspended on full pay while the investigation is underway.
Sir John Chisholm, Chairman of QinetiQ said: “The QinetiQ Board has received a detailed briefing on the Haddon-Cave report and is determined the company learns from all that the report says. To ensure that this happens, we have appointed Sir Robert Nelson, recently retired as a High Court Judge, to oversee an independent investigation, proposing any actions he thinks are appropriate."
He added: "The Board believes that input from an independent third party will provide important impetus to our analysis of the lessons to be learned from the Haddon-Cave report. Sir Robert has the experience and expertise to oversee this process and the Board looks forward to reviewing his preliminary recommendations before the end of the year.”
Caustic Comments:
1. "In the meantime all airworthiness advisory projects have been given an additional reporting line" = We're resubmitting our quotes to MoD to increase the price for this advice, especially given they now want good advice.
2. "The Board believes that input from an independent third party will provide important impetus to our analysis of the lessons to be learned from the Haddon-Cave report" = Like MoD, we've systematically rid ourselves of the very people who told us all along we were doing the wrong thing, so haven't a clue which way to turn.