Telford hailed in report into BAE Systems

The report by Oxford Economics shows that investment in skills and technology has increased year on year leading to labour productivity rates of £128,000 per employee at BAE, which employs about 300 people at its armoured vehicle maintenance division in Telford.

That is about 80 per cent higher than the UK average.

The report also showed that BAE's operations put about £11.1 billion into the UK economy, including direct, supply chain and workforce spending contributions

It is a growing force in export markets with earnings from sales abroad totalling £4.7 billion, equivalent to 0.9 per cent of UK exports

It spends £4 billion on goods and services with some 8,900 suppliers across the UK, representing 79 per cent of its total procurement.

The report also highlights the work done at Telford, including the Challenger 2, Warrior and CVR(T) vehicles and its bridge testing operation, which employs about 50 people.

"The site is well integrated into the local supply chain, and consequently its indirect impact can be expected to be substantial," the report said.

It also highlights the plant's latest work, the new Ironclad unmanned ground vehicle.

BAE chairman Sir Roger Carr said: "BAE Systems plays a critical role in ensuring the security and prosperity of the UK and we prioritise investment in skills, capital and technology to support our continued growth in productivity and exports.

"We recognise our responsibility to support wider industry and the positive role we can play in addressing the UK’s productivity challenge.

"We are proud to work with the thousands of UK companies across our supply chain on some of the world’s most complex engineering programmes and together we create skilled jobs, develop new technologies and play our part in driving prosperity in regions across the UK.”