2.21 When the project was tendered in 1995 there were 1,200 declared staff within the Defence Fixed Telecommunications System boundary. Of these some 600 were civilian and 600 were military, mainly in the Royal Air Force. The military staff were largely redeployed within the Department. The great majority of the civilian staff are either being redeployed within the Department or made redundant as BT transfer services to the new system. Only a few staff transferred to BT to work on the new system which is mainly operated by BT's existing staff. The employment rights of the civilian staff who have transferred to BT are protected under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE).
2.22 The Department told us that they made efforts to keep the principal trade unions informed of developments through informal discussions, but formal consultations between the Department, BT and the unions did not begin until after the contract was signed in July 1997. Subsequent guidance from the Treasury9 recognises that departments should consider inviting unions to discuss relevant employment issues with short-listed bidders. Union representatives told us that they considered that their earlier formal involvement would have been beneficial. They gave us, as an example, that they would have been able to help BT identify more easily the Department staff affected by the transfer of work. The trade unions told us that this would have facilitated the consultation with these staff as to whether they preferred to transfer to BT, move elsewhere within the Department, or take redundancy. In subsequent privately financed projects, the Department consulted trade unions earlier, in line with their own guidance of August 1996 and the Treasury's guidance.
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9 Treasury Taskforce Policy Statement No 4 "Disclosure of Information and Consultation with Staff and other Interested Parties" (October 1998).