UK Inquiry Tracker

MoD Equipment Plan 2021-31

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 21 Feb 2022 Closed: 2 Sep 2022 Parliament page

The Committee will take evidence on the NAO’s report on the annual Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/the-equipment-plan-2021-to-2031/ The Equipment plan sets out the MoD’s intended investment in equipment and support projects over the next 10 years . Each year the NAO publishes a report, published in parallel with the … Read more

11 Recommendations

22 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

2 Sep
2022

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty Second report from Session 2021-22

22 Jun
2022

Correspondence

Correspondence from the Ministry of Defence, relating to the Public Accounts Committee Report – MoD Equipment Plan 2021-31, dated 21 June 2…

11 May
2022

Report published

Fifty-Second Report - Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan 2021–31

28 Feb
2022

Oral evidence

MoD Equipment Plan 2021-30

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

28 Feb 2022

View on parliament.uk

MoD Equipment Plan 2021-30

Air Marshall Richard Knighton · Ministry of Defence Charlie Pate · Ministry of Defence David Williams CB · Ministry of Defence Sir Simon Bollom · Ministry of Defence

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fifty-Second Report - Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan 2021–31	HC 1164	11 May 2022	33	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

33 results

2 Recommendation

Fifty-Second Report - Ministry of …

The Department appears complacent about the affordability of its Plan and still does not yet...

The Department appears complacent about the affordability of its Plan and still does not yet have robust arrangements in place to control the cost of its largest programmes. The Department believes that its Spending Review settlement and the decisions it … Read more The Department appears complacent about the affordability of its Plan and still does not yet have robust arrangements in place to control the cost of its largest programmes. The Department believes that its Spending Review settlement and the decisions it has taken mean its Equipment Plan is now affordable, and that it is striking a better balance between financial and capability risk. We are not convinced that the Plan is as stable as the Department believes, or that it will be able to avoid short-term budget-driven changes to the Plan. The Department clearly finds it difficult to control the costs of the largest programmes and we are concerned that the Department sees the Dreadnought programme ‘contingency’ held by HM Treasury as a blank cheque, freeing it from the need to control costs. This is the Department’s largest programme and it is imperative that cost control is tight. The Department would like to use similar contingency arrangements for the programme to replace the UK’s nuclear warhead. This programme and the Future Combat Air System are at a much earlier stage of development, meaning that costs could be much higher than the current forecast. This uncertainty makes robust cost control still more important. Rising inflation means the cost of delivering projects is likely to rise, particularly if they experience delays. Recommendation: The Department should write to the Committee within the next three months to detail the current cost of the Dreadnought, Replacement Warhead and FCAS programmes and set out how it intends to control the costs of these programmes in future. We recommend that there should be a clearly defined purpose for the Dreadnought contingency and any proposals for a warhead contingency, and that Government 6 Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan 2021–31 should have a robust arrangement in place, including conditions which would have to be met, before HM Treasury would consider providing any additional funds from the contingency. The Departme Show less

HM Treasury

MoD Equipment Plan 2021-31

Activity timeline 4 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

The Department appears complacent about the affordability of its Plan and still does not yet...

The Plan’s affordability relies on the Department achieving a number of different types of savings,...

Likely additional costs in other areas of departmental spending, such as on its workforce and...

The Department remains a long way short of having the finance skills it needs to...

The Department has made little impact in its efforts to change its longstanding cultural resistance...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

Outside the Plan, we asked if the proposed cuts to the regular Army to 73,000...

The Department told us that it intended to use the Plan’s increased budget to fund...

The Department also told us it intends to buy more F-35 aircraft.16 It had previously...

An example of new funding for more established programmes is the new radar for the...

More widely, the Committee asked whether the Plan was now based on a large number...

However, the NAO report found that in the Plan the Department has only set aside...

The Department told us that, thanks to the funding increase in the Spending Review and...

This is the first time the Department has claimed the Plan is affordable for four...

We asked why the Department is forecasting to spend more than its capital budget in...

We considered the Department’s controls over the costs of the Plan’s largest programmes, in particular...

The Department told us that it was confident that the Dreadnought programme would not exceed...

On the replacement Warhead programme, the Department pointed to its 2021 action to bring the...

The Plan’s affordability depends on the Department achieving a number of different types of savings...

Pressed on the £4 billion for which there are no plans yet, the Department explained...

We noted that £2.6 billion of the £4 billion savings—two thirds of the total—needs to...

The Department has made a number of assumptions about how much it will spend on...

The Department plans to make substantial reductions to its military and civilian workforces over the...

In addition to these reductions, the Department’s spending plans currently assume further workforce savings of...

The condition of the Department’s estate is set to continue to decline despite an additional...

In order to produce a Plan which is effective, realistic and affordable, the Department needs...

Strong financial skills are necessary at all levels for good management of the many hundreds...

We were interested as to why there had been so little progress since last year.

We found that our witnesses did not readily acknowledge the poor state of affairs of...

We were interested to understand why information about project performance does not always seem to...

We asked about the lack of tolerance of those involved in projects to voice their...

Departmental reform efforts have made limited progress.

The Permanent Secretary insisted that progress is being made on changing behaviour and culture, but...

Correspondence 1 letter