Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
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 Department’s failure to ensure the timely delivery of the Crowsnest radar system leaves the carriers with less protection than planned in its early years. The Department has regarded the Crowsnest project—which will provide a new airborne radar system to protect Carrier Strike—as a very high-risk project from the start. There were problems with it between 2016 and 2018, including slippage against milestones. Then, in January 2019, the Department realised that Crowsnest’s initial contracted capability would not be delivered until September 2021, 18 months later than planned. It has told us that the problems were because the sub-contractor did not understand the technical risks and had been overly optimistic when Delivering carrier strike 7 reporting progress. The Department assures us that there will be a “credible baseline capability” when Carrier Strike deploys in 2021 and it will be able to respond to potential threats. Although it plans to improve incrementally the radar capability by 2023, it could not assure us that it would achieve this. Recommendation: The Department should write to the Committee to advise how it has addressed the challenge of not initially having a fully operational Crowsnest system, and on the timetable for enhancements. More broadly, it should advise the Committee how it has improved the oversight of sub-contractors in the light of this case.
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.