Recommendation 1

HM Government Rejected

The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The Ministry of Defence (the department) does not plan to publish a full equipment plan as it works to adapt the plan to respond to the Integrated Review Refresh and to manage the impact of inflation on its programmes. The department is supporting the National Audit Office to produce their annual report and will write to the Committee with an update on how it is managing its finances and responding to changing circumstances. The equipment plan report is a retrospective review of the department’s assumptions at a point in time and key elements of the report, such as the independent cost estimates and the National Audit Office investigation need to be carried out after the data is available. The department continuously considers how to adjust its spending plans through annual financial planning processes. The government announced an additional £5 billion for defence in the remaining two years of the 2020 Spending Review settlement at this year’s Spring Budget 2023, but the department still faces financial pressures and is working to adjust its plans to balance the funding available to the department with its objectives and outputs. To build on the improvements which were already in train through the acquisition reform programme, the department has commenced a review of its wider operating model which will look at end to end acquisition processes and aim to improve delivery.