Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted
Ministry of Defence fails to outline precise methodology for annual spending plan updates to Parliament.
Recommendation
At the end of our evidence session, we asked the Department to write to us setting out a satisfactory and precise methodology for providing Parliament with an update on its spending plans at least once a year.62 The Permanent Secretary has since written to us, but yet again he has failed to address our concerns. Instead, the letter contained platitudes regarding the Department’s commitment to report to Parliament annually to provide opportunities for regular scrutiny, but was vague about how the Department would do this.63 The recently published SDR says that the Department will develop a new ten-year Defence Investment Plan, which will be completed in autumn 2025. While the SDR says this will supersede the Equipment Plan, the ongoing lack of details means we cannot judge how adequate a replacement this might be. The rising cost of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (the DNE)
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, committing to publish the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) in Autumn 2025, which will provide a framework for Parliament to scrutinise 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.