Source · Select Committees · Defence Committee
Recommendation 33
33
Accepted
Government's unacceptably slow and unhelpful response impeded inquiry, raising ministerial grip concerns
Conclusion
The Government’s reaction to this specific inquiry has also been unacceptably slow and has impeded our work. Responses to our requests for written evidence have arrived many months late and contained very little useful information. We took up the Government’s offer of a meeting in private to review classified information. This was both constructive and informative, but it took place 10 months after our initial request for this data, and there is no guarantee that it will be repeated in the future, which raises the concern about whether there is sufficient ministerial grip on readiness.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that the response time for this specific inquiry was slow and commits to making every effort to prevent recurrence. They assure that the newly offered annual open session will be prioritised and provide useful, timely information.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees the response time for this specific inquiry has been slow and will make every effort to ensure this is not repeated. As the Committee is aware, it took longer than we originally expected to publish the Defence Command Paper (published in July 2023), which delayed Defence’s ability to update the HCDC in a timely manner. In future, the Government would like to assure the Committee the annual open session for Ministers and Chiefs with the HCDC will be prioritised by the Department and useful in substance. Releasing more detailed information, in a more regular and timely manner, than we currently do will give wider public the opportunity to see the complexity of our readiness issues, the impacts of budgets on our capabilities, and the choices the Department must make.