Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Paragraph: 36
We welcome the Government’s ambition to conduct the “deepest” and “most radical review since the...
Conclusion
We welcome the Government’s ambition to conduct the “deepest” and “most radical review since the Cold War.” At a time of such geopolitical and economic uncertainty, it is vital that the Review involves thorough consideration of the desired “ends” of the UK’s security, defence, development and foreign policy as well as the “ways” and “means” required to achieve them. To realise its ambition, Government must identify and overcome the factors that contribute to a Review becoming a “business as usual” exercise. By answering the questions laid out in this report, the Review can overcome the tensions inherent in the Review process and identify and question assumptions at the heart of the UK’s security, defence, development and foreign policy. In response to this Report, Government should: a. Set out the mechanisms and approach to challenging assumptions underpinning the UK’s defence strategy b. Explain what role the Dstl’s Defence Wargaming Centre and MoD’s Strategic Net Assessment Unit will play
Paragraph Reference:
36
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees with the Committee that appropriate challenge is critical to delivering the Integrated Review. External challenge is being invited and incorporated into the Integrated Review across the board, including through targeted workshops. We have set up an integrated, whole-of-government approach to deliver the UK’s ambitious vision for the next decade and to develop the capabilities and systems needed to achieve our aims. Policy work on the Review involves detailed horizon-scanning, covering future trends, opportunities, risks and threats; evidence-gathering and policy analysis; and engagement, undertaken within a structured cross-Whitehall process. This process is designed to identify the detail underpinning policy, capability and systems reform options that will be developed alongside the Spending Review process, for decision-making in the Autumn. The MOD has built mechanisms into its internal process to challenge the developing Defence proposition and the assumptions that lie beneath it. As stated above in response to Q4, the MOD is consulting widely inside and outside of Government, ensuring some of the UK’s best minds are feeding into its conclusions and challenging traditional Whitehall assumptions and thinking. The exact mechanisms for this engagement vary between stakeholders. Threat assessment, Great Power Competition, hostile activity by foreign states and international terrorism was substantially evidenced by a range of Intelligence assessments, including longer-term analytical studies, specially commissioned pieces for the Integrated Review process, and real-time updates on the evolving COVID-19 situation and its effect on UK strategy. Evidence and expertise from both the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (DSTL) Wargaming Centre and the Strategic Net Assessment Team have been used in the MOD’s Integrated Review process. Detailed findings from existing Third Special Report of Session 2019–21 5 DSTL wargames have been used to inform the assessment of risk and develop capability. Expertise from the DSTL Wargaming Centre helped shape a critical cross-MOD senior exercise in early September.