Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
Twenty-Third Report - Delivering carrier strike
Published 13 Nov 2020
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Delivering carrier strike All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The value for money of the investment in the carriers will be significantly reduced if the UK cannot afford enough aircraft to sustain operations over the carriers’ service life. The Department acknowledges that it will need more than the 48 Lightning II jets it has ordered so far to sustain Carrier Strike operations through to the 2050s and beyond. It originally intended to buy 138 aircraft, but its assumptions for using the carriers have changed since 2015 and it failed to give us a clear answer on how many more jets it now needs. The Department is considering the number and type of combat aircraft it will require in the future—across all operations—as part of its wider Air Combat Strategy. However, it could only provide us with a broad breakdown of the estimated costs of the Lightning II programme. The Department has forecast that the programme’s whole life costs are £18.4 billion but, as at June 2020, it had an approved budget of only £10.5 billion. It has told us that each plane currently costs approximately $100m and that this price is falling. Nevertheless, this basic purchase price is just one element, and other costs must be taken into account, including the UK’s original investment to be a Tier 1 partner with the US, and the costs of weapons integration, sustainment and the supporting infrastructure. We are concerned with the Department’s lack of clarity on these costs as it will need to find additional funding to purchase all the jets it will require. Recommendation: Within one month of this report, the Department should provide the Committee with a full and detailed breakdown of Lightning II related expenditure to date, the approved budget and the forecast whole life costs of the Programme. It should also set out the additional whole life cost of buying more than 48 jets.
From: Public Accounts Committee, Twenty-Third Report - Delivering carrier strike (HC 684), 13 November 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 February 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 recommendation on six of its recommendations (numbered 1 to 6), and disagrees with one part, on the whole life cost of buying more than 48 jets.
- On future ambitions for Carrier Strike, the government agrees; the department says that once the Integrated Review is published it "will evaluate the outcomes in detail to refine its policy ambitions", with any future investments captured in the costed 10-year Equipment Plan.
- On the cost of more than 48 jets, the government disagrees, stating it is "not possible" to expand the costing model beyond 48 aircraft until the Integrated Review results are known and a formal mandate change to the Lightning Programme is issued.
- On Lightning II expenditure, the government agrees, but notes that the private briefing agreed with the Committee for 20 January 2021 "does not meet the recommendation timeline (within one month)".
- On Crowsnest, the government agrees and says a written brief on how it has addressed the late delivery "will be provided to the Committee in February 2021"; full capability is to be achieved in 2023.