Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
Department declined to publish 2024 Equipment Plan due to ongoing spending plan uncertainty.
Conclusion
In November 2024, the Minister for Defence Procurement & Industry wrote to the Chair to say that the Department would not publish a Plan for 2024 because “it would not provide an accurate reflection of this Government’s spending plans and I do not believe it would provide a useful means for Parliament to hold the Department to account on how we will deliver the plan affordably”.56 In March 2025, the Permanent Secretary wrote to the Chair: “In light of the Defence funding announcement made by the Prime Minister on 25th February we are working through the consequences for our future spending and our approach to procurement and as a result what that means for how we might best support the committee and Parliament in its scrutiny of the department’s equipment planning.”57
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the implicit recommendation, committing to publish the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) in Autumn 2025 to allow for thorough scrutiny of the department’s evolving spending 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.