Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 23
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 carriers cannot be used on their own and need a range of support vessels to provide supplies and protection. The Department told us that in a conflict situation, for example, it would need anti-submarine warfare frigates, anti-aircraft destroyers, and hunter-killer submarines. Deploying Carrier Strike will therefore require a significant proportion of the Royal Navy’s fleet. However, the Department faces financial pressures and funding shortfalls over the next 10 years which could restrict investment in capabilities and upgrades. For example, it needs to upgrade the propulsion systems of all six Type 45 destroyers by the mid-2020s and is replacing the outdated Type 23 anti-submarine frigates with specialist Type 26 frigates from 2027. The Department told us that it has made a case to HM Treasury for increasing the size of the surface fleet, but no outcome was yet forthcoming. Furthermore, the ships need to be crewed to operate. The Department said it was not aware of any problems regarding the surface fleet but admitted that crewing submarines was more of a struggle.52
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.