MPs' anger at Ministry of Defence's 'lamentable' failure to control budget for UK's armed forces

The Commons’ public accounts committee said it was ‘lamentable’ that ministers have still not taken the strategic decisions needed to set the £181bn equipment plan on a sustainable footing.

Instead, it said, the MoD is stuck in a cycle of short-term decision-making – using additional funds to offset financial pressures – resulting in poor value for money for the taxpayer.

According to the latest report by the National Audit Office (NAO), the rolling 10-year equipment plan is between £2.9bn and £13bnover budget – with the MoD having little idea how to make good the shortfall.

The committee said it has still not made the ‘hard choices’ necessary to close the ‘affordability gap’ – which had arisen in part from the failure to fully fund the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

‘We are extremely frustrated that we see the same problems year after year and that, despite repeated departmental assurances that it will make progress, there appear to be no consequences for failure to deliver,’ the committee said.

‘The government has still not taken the strategic decisions required to establish an affordable equipment plan and deliver the crucial military capabilities needed by our armed forces.

‘The department's lamentable failure to get a grip on the equipment plan continues, despite this committee and the NAO consistently highlighting serious affordability issues in the plan year after year.’

The warning comes as ministers have promised a major overhaul of defence procurement procedures as part of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy – which has been delayed until next year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Committee chairman Meg Hillier said it is time for minsters to finally get to grips with the issue.

‘The MoD knows what it's getting wrong. We know what it's getting wrong,’ she said. ‘For years we have made concrete proposals to improve delivery of key strategic priorities and here we are again, with the same gaps in our national defence and the same risk to our armed forces personnel, year after year.’

The MoD said it was committed to securing the best equipment for Britain's armed forces.

A spokesman said: ‘As the committee acknowledges, managing complex defence programmes can be challenging and we continue to reduce the gap between our budget and predicted costs, achieving £7.8bn of efficiency savings last year and securing an extra £2.2bn for defence.’

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