In respect of HMS Scott, the Royal Navy's only ocean  survey vessel Babcock, the company that operates both the Rosyth and Devonport dockyards, has indicated that it is prepared to move the overhaul work from Devonport, which has a comparatively full order book, to Rosyth, where on Monday 250 potential job losses were announced.

However, it appears that the MoD wishes the work to be carried out at Devonport or Falmouth on the basis of the crew's choice not to have to travel to Rosyth, this despite the fact that due to workloading it's likely the work would be completed quicker in Rosyth than on the south coast.

Babcock is also bidding to win a major package of work overhauling the Navy's fleet of Type 45s Destroyers which will provide a substantial amount of work for a number of years and which both saves jobs and could well deliver the work programme faster than at other yards. This package of work is crucial to the future of Rosyth and could also help offset the current redundancy crisis.

"On behalf of those members who are facing a bleak Christmas at risk of redundancy, Prospect is more than disappointed at this decision by the MoD, which seems to be based on crew convenience, rather than any sensible economic or workload metrics," said Richard Hardy, Prospect national secretary for Scotland, speaking about the HMS Scott situation.

"Any work coming into Rosyth will assist us in staving off job losses," explained Hardy "HMS Scott will help, but the award of the Type 45 contract is a vital piece of the jigsaw to both assisting with the redundancies and securing the future of the Yard for the future. This is a strategic workforce and the other yards competing have much fuller order books than Rosyth, it makes sense therefore to award the work to Rosyth" 

Hardy continued: "We're working positively with the senior team at Babcock and we will now start to lobby on this issue with our contacts in MoD, in Westminster and at Holyrood."