Select committee: Defence Committee
Conclusion 124
First Report - Ready for War?
Published 4 Feb 2024
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee Armed Forces Readiness All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In 2023, we examined the organisation responsible for the majority of MOD procurement (Defence Equipment & Support).248 Pointing to the conclusion by the Public Accounts Committee that defence equipment “arrives into service many years late and significantly over-budget, with depressing regularity”, something which means that “neither taxpayers nor our Armed Forces are being served well”,249 we welcomed the acknowledgement by the CEO of Defence Equipment & Support that “we have some really horrible, broken programmes that aren’t good enough”.250 240 Oral evidence taken on 4 July 2023, HC (2022–23) 1689, Q46; Ministry of Defence (CDS0001) 241 Oral evidence taken on 12 December 2023, HC (2023–24) 54, Q97 242 Q318 243 Q34–5; 48–9 244 Ministry of Defence (CDS0001) 245 Q99 246 Q115 247 Oral evidence taken on 5 September 2023, HC (2022–23) 1804, Q37–8 248 Defence Committee, Ninth Report of Session 2022–23, It is broke — and it’s time to fix it The UK’s defence procurement system, HC 1099 249 Public Accounts Committee, Forty-Eighth Report of Session 2022–23, MoD Equipment Plan 2022–2023, HC 731 250 Oral evidence taken on 21 February 2023, HC 1119, Q110 Ready for War? 47
From: Defence Committee, First Report - Ready for War? (HC 26), 4 February 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 April 2024 (deadline 4 April 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees there is no regular mechanism to scrutinise readiness and offers an annual open session, releases some Defence Planning Assumptions headlines, and sets out its position on stockpiles, recruitment and procurement.
- On transparency, the government "recognises that the Committee should have public access to more information on planning assumptions and readiness" and releases headlines from the 2023 assumptions, committing to release "as much as possible" of the next iteration "when national and NATO planning processes have matured".
- It agrees the response time for the inquiry was slow and "will make every effort to ensure this is not repeated".
- On the £1.95bn from the Spring Budget 2023, it states the money "will be spent in full on measures to address gaps in our capabilities". It says exact stockpile holdings are "not releasable on the grounds of national security".
- On recruitment and retention, it says a formal response to each Haythornthwaite Review recommendation "will be published during 2024", with next steps for delivery and implementation for each.