Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Improving defence inventory management

Status: Closed Opened: 12 Sep 2023 Closed: 3 Apr 2024 2 recommendations 19 conclusions 1 report

The wide range of supplies and spare equipment required by the UK armed forces for immediate and potential use are collectively described as ‘inventory’. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) holds more than 740 million individual items of inventory, valued at £10.8 billion. The Committee found in February 2013 that the MoD faced serious problems in …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Eighth Report - Improving Defence Inventory Management HC 66 19 Jan 2024 21 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 item
8 Conclusion Eighth Report - Improving Defence Inven… Rejected

MoD's inventory data quality and system functionality limit a deeper understanding of stock

We remain concerned about the quality of the MoD’s inventory data; the MoD stated that while its visibility of its inventory is generally good, its system functionality can prevent staff from having a deeper understanding of it. For example, the Royal Navy’s base inventory system can record that an item …

Government response. The government acknowledges the committee's concern but states there was an error in previous reporting, providing corrected data that demonstrates greater success in managing inventory holdings and thus challenging the premise of the committee's concern.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
13 Nov 2023 Andy Start · Ministry of Defence, David Williams CB · Ministry of Defence, John Farrow · Defence Equipment and Support, Vice Admiral Andy Kyte CB · Ministry of Defence View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
18 Mar 2024 Correspondence from David Williams CB, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence…