Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 23
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department also needs ‘headroom’ in its budget to keep up with the pace of change on new technologies.66 It is therefore assessing how much contingency is appropriate for both the nuclear programme and more conventional equipment projects in the Plan.67 The Department told us it also plans to invest in new capabilities for which 55 Q 14 56 Q 24 57 Qq 14, 24, 40, 79 58 Q 25, 53, 99 59 Q 102 60 Q 29 61 Qq 39, 55, 79 62 Q 30 63 Q 95 64 C&AG’s report, para 1.11 65 Qq 38, 42 66 Qq 78, 95 67 Q 41 Defence Equipment Plan 2020–2030 15 future funding requirements are unclear. For example, the Department is establishing a new Space Command and seeking to build its capacity in this domain but has not yet set out its investment plan.68 Responding to affordability pressures
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."