Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
Fiftieth Report - Defence Equipment Plan 2020–2030
Published 16 Mar 2021
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Defence Equipment Plan 2020-2030 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In our report on the Equipment Plan 2019–2029, we expressed our concern that the Department had still not established an affordable long-term investment programme in military equipment and had missed opportunities to take the necessary difficult decisions to develop an affordable plan. We urged the government to set a balanced defence budget that reflects new priorities and ambitions in developing capabilities to meet the evolving threats of modern warfare.11 Yet we continue to see the damaging consequences of failing to address the unaffordability of the Plan.12 The Top Level Budgets (TLBs) were again required to make savings on equipment projects—as they cut over £1 billion from their budgets in 2020–21—and were again restricted from entering into new contracts.13 We remain extremely frustrated that the Department has persisted with these practices while still not addressing the fundamental issue of the long-term affordability of its equipment programme.14
From: Public Accounts Committee, Fiftieth Report - Defence Equipment Plan 2020–2030 (HC 693), 16 March 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 31 August 2021 (deadline 16 May 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations that are set out in the response, each with a stated target implementation date, and sets out related work already under way.
- On affordability, it agrees that the next Equipment Plan report must demonstrate affordability, and says that report (Autumn 2021) will set out the implications of the 2020 Spending Review settlement and the Integrated Review.
- On transparency over the additional funding, it agrees and says it "will write to the Committee before summer recess" with a summary of investment and savings decisions, with a target date of June 2021.
- On defence cost inflation, it agrees and says it will write to the Committee alongside the Autumn 2021 Equipment Plan report, and states it "is committed to changing attitudes and behaviours within the Defence acquisition system".
- On finance capability, it agrees with a target date of March 2023, noting that "It takes time to both train and recruit professionally qualified staff, but numbers will increase over time."