Armed forces catering to be combined

Catering for the British Army, the Navy and the RAF is to be combined in a single organisation under plans announced today by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The new body, based at Ensleigh near Bath, will come into being on 1 April, subject to consultation with trade unions and "other interested parties".

It will be responsible for the worldwide supply of food to the UK armed forces.

The body will have 65 staff under the leadership of Air Commodore Steve Wood, a former RAF director of catering.

The new Defence Catering Group would help the three armed services work together and lead to efficiency savings, said the MOD.

A spokesman added that the impact on jobs at the current Army catering headquarters in Andover, Hampshire, and the RAF catering directorate at Brampton, Cambridgeshire, would be "minimal".

The Navy's catering operation is already run from Bath.

The new combined catering group would oversee the introduction of pay-as-you-dine catering across the armed services.

At present, live-in servicemen and women pay a flat daily rate for all meals. Under pay-as-you dine they will not have to pay for meals they do not eat.

The MOD spokesman added: "Before, different messes had different services and different forms of contracting, they had their own means and methods of service and supply. Now there won't be any difference.

"An RAF station is no different from an Army barracks or a Navy site."