UK House of Commons Accuses Defence Ministry of Poor Track Record, Wastage of Money

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) fails to learn from its experience and wastes billions of taxpayers' money, the Committee of Public Accounts of the British House of Commons reported on Wednesday.
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"We are therefore extremely disappointed and frustrated by the continued poor track record of the Department and its suppliers - including significant net delays of 21 years across the programmes most recently examined by the National Audit Office - and by wastage of taxpayers' money running into the billions", the committee said in its newly published report on improving the performance of defence equipment contracts.

According to the document, problems arose from the fact that MoD has a narrow specialist supplier base and lacks the trained and qualified personnel to effectively manage and direct the activities of its suppliers.
The committee noted that MoD failed to prove its ability to carry out a significant step-change in performance through its improvement plans. The body also expressed great concern about MoD’s financial risks for failure.
Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (C) arrives at the prime minister's official residence on his way to meet the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo on July 20, 2021
The committee believes that MoD's attempt to improve procurement through its Strategic Partnering Programme will deliver savings of less than 0.1% of the forecast Equipment Plan spend.

"The Department continues to be unclear about what additional capability the taxpayer will get from the extra £16.5 billion in the 2020 Spending Review. We remain to be convinced that the government's substantial uplift to the Department's budget will not simply be used to plug financial holes across its programmes. We are struck in recent evidence sessions by how many departmental witnesses with differing responsibilities have pointed to the additional funding as a solution to their problems", the committee said.

The committee required greater transparency of equipment contracts' performance and more openness about the threats faced by the ministry. Otherwise, according to the report, MoD will fail to rethink its inefficient system for acquiring military equipment.
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