Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 21
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department told us that an internal audit at Thales in January 2019 declared that it would be very late delivering the programme. As a result, the Department does not expect Crowsnest to achieve initial operating capability until September 2021. The Department told us that the problems arose because the industry consortium had underestimated the technical risk from the outset and had under-resourced the programme. These problems had been compounded by a “can-do” attitude within industry and a misplaced belief that it could catch up. As a result, Crowsnest will be delivered some 18 months later than planned.50 45 Q 26; Ministry of Defence letter to the Chair, 8 October 2020; C&AG’s Report, para. 1.16 46 Qq 24–25 47 Qq 26–28; Ministry of Defence letter to the Chair, 8 October 2020; C&AG’s Report, para. 8 48 Q 15; C&AG’s Report, para. 2.2 49 Q 32; C&AG’s Report, para. 2.3 50 Qq 29–32; C&AG’s Report, paras. 2.4 and 2.7 14 Delivering carrier strike
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.