Fifty-Second Report - Ministry of Defence Equipment Plan 2021–31
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1164
11 May 2022
Recommendations
1 results
2
Not Addressed
The Department appears complacent about the affordability of its Plan and still does not yet...
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The response discusses Électricité de France’s (EDF) strategies, plans and the estimated costs, but does not detail the current cost of the Dreadnought, Replacement Warhead and FCAS programmes.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (10) Observations and findings — click to expand
1
Conclusion
Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Defence (the Department) on the Department’s ten-year Equipment Plan (the Plan) which sets out its plans for the procurement and support of military equipment between 2021 and 2031.1
Government Response Summary
The response acknowledges the report but doesn't address the substance of the conclusion.
7
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Outside the Plan, we asked if the proposed cuts to the regular Army to 73,000 from 82,000 meant the UK would not have enough soldiers.10 The Department stressed to us that the UK has “responded positively” to every request from NATO for further support.11 Development of new capabilities
Government Response Summary
The response discusses the Programme, skill development, and risk management, but does not address the question of whether the UK has enough soldiers given proposed cuts to the regular Army.
9
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The Department also told us it intends to buy more F-35 aircraft.16 It had previously told us that the 48 F-35 aircraft it is currently purchasing would not be enough to sustain Carrier Strike operations throughout the life of its two aircraft carriers.17 We heard that it now intends to …
Government Response Summary
The response restates the conclusion about the Department's intention to buy more F-35 aircraft.
10
Conclusion
An example of new funding for more established programmes is the new radar for the Typhoon. Although it had been in development for several years before the decision to buy it was announced in 2015, the Department did not include the cost in recent Plans as it was not affordable.19 …
11
Conclusion
More widely, the Committee asked whether the Plan was now based on a large number of past assumptions, observing that it does not include funding for capabilities 7 Q2 8 Q8 9 Q86 10 Qq 7–8 11 Q88 12 Q64 13 Q68 14 Q71 15 Q75 16 Q54 17 Committee …
12
Conclusion
However, the NAO report found that in the Plan the Department has only set aside £1.05 billion from 2026–27 to 2030–31 to exploit research to develop usable military capabilities.24 This expenditure is only 0.4% of the Plan’s total budget, although the Department believes the boundary between R&D and exploitation is …
13
Conclusion
The Department told us that, thanks to the funding increase in the Spending Review and the Integrated Review process, it thinks the Plan is now affordable, although there are financial and capability risks in its delivery.27 The Department also told us that it had a clearer strategy than before, with …
14
Conclusion
This is the first time the Department has claimed the Plan is affordable for four years. And given the NAO has repeatedly reported on the Department’s focus on short term affordability at the expense of long-term value for money, we asked how the Department was guarding against accruing capability risk …
15
Conclusion
We asked why the Department is forecasting to spend more than its capital budget in seven of the next 10 years. The Department responded that the differences in those years were quite small and it judged them to be manageable.32 It had taken a conscious decision not to fully “address …
16
Conclusion
We considered the Department’s controls over the costs of the Plan’s largest programmes, in particular the nuclear projects such as Dreadnought submarines and the replacement Warhead programme. As the NAO notes, nuclear projects amount to about £60 billion in the Plan, which is more than a quarter of its value.34 …