Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Accepted
Department previously published annual Equipment Plans to assess affordability and inform Parliament.
Conclusion
The Department published an Equipment Plan (the Plan) each year from 2012 to 2022, setting out its 10-year spending plans for equipment procurement and support projects. The Department’s aim was to produce a reliable assessment of the affordability of its equipment programme, and to demonstrate to Parliament how it intended to manage its equipment funding. Each year, the National Audit Office published a report examining the Department’s assessment of the Plan’s affordability and its response to the financial challenges it faced.51
Government Response Summary
The government commits to publishing a new Defence Investment Plan (DIP) in Autumn 2025, which will replace the previous Equipment Plan and allow thorough scrutiny of the department's spending and procurement plans.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 5.2 The DIP, to be published in Autumn 2025, and its future iterations will allow the Committee to thoroughly scrutinise the department’s spending plans as they evolve over time. The Secretary of State for Defence has made it clear that the DIP, including the investment in equipment procurement and support, will be affordable within the department’s Spending Review settlement. 5.3 As the Committee will appreciate, officials appearing before Select Committees can describe and explain government policies, but it is not their role to anticipate or pre-empt Ministerial decisions or announcements. The government’s plans for the DIP were set out in the SDR publication on 2 June 2025. Noting his personal accountabilities to Parliament as Accounting Officer, the Permanent Secretary’s letter of 13 May 2025 and evidence at the Session of 28 April 2025 went as far as was possible in advance of those Ministerial announcements.