Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 32
32
Accepted
No regular mechanism for parliamentary scrutiny of ministerial decisions on defence readiness
Conclusion
Readiness is about acceptable risk. The decisions on what risks to take are ultimately political (based partly on military advice) rather than solely military or parliamentary decisions. Ministers will also inevitably need to reach judgments about the availability of information regarding threats and the UK’s readiness to respond 48 Meg Russell and Lisa James, Parliamentary scrutiny: what is it and why does it matter?, UCL Constitution Unit briefing, September 2023 49 Liaison Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2017–19, The effectiveness and influence of the select committee system, HC 1860, para 51 50 Liaison Committee, Fourth Report of Session 2017–19, The effectiveness and influence of the select committee system, HC 1860, para 91 16 Ready for War? to those threats, and these judgments may change as the threat landscape changes. However, Parliament’s role and our role in particular is to hold Ministers to account for their actions. We cannot fulfil this role without adequate information, along the lines that was available to our predecessors. At present there is no regular mechanism which allows us to scrutinise ministerial decisions on readiness and their impact on risk.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that there is no regular mechanism for scrutiny on readiness and offers a regular annual open session for the Committee to meet with Ministers and Service Chiefs to address this gap.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees with the Committee’s conclusion there is no regular mechanism to scrutinise readiness. We would like to offer a regular annual open session for the Committee to meet with Ministers and Chiefs of the Single Services to scrutinise decisions on readiness. This will also enable the Committee to better understand how the Department manages risk in relation to readiness.