Equipment Plan 2012 To 2022
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| Author | : Great Britain: National Audit Office |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 38 |
| Release | : 2013-01-31 |
| Genre | : Technology & Engineering |
| ISBN | : 9780102980615 |
The MOD's ten-year Equipment Plan sets out its forecast expenditure plans to deliver and support the equipment the Armed Forces require to meet the objectives set out in the National Security Strategy over the ten years from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2022 and covers a budget of £159 billion. Since the beginning of 2011 the Department has substantially revised the way it compiles and manages the Equipment Plan. It has taken difficult decisions to address what was estimated to be a £74 billion gap between the Department's forecast funding and cost of the defence programme as a whole and to try to bring the Equipment Plan itself into balance. These include cutting unaffordable expenditure and revising the way it compiles and manages the Equipment Plan to include greater contingency to better manage cost variability. The Equipment Plan is based on forecasts of costs and funding. The NAO has therefore constructed an affordability assessment model that breaks the Department's assertions down into assumptions covering costs and funding against which the realism of the Department's approach can be tested. This is the first year the NAO has undertaken this engagement and it was aware from the beginning of issues, which would limit the confidence that could be taken from the Department's Statement to Parliament on the cost and affordability of the Equipment Plan. In future years, as the Department's approach to producing the Equipment Plan matures, the NAO intends to extend the scope of its work
| Author | : Great Britain: National Audit Office |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 48 |
| Release | : 2014-02-13 |
| Genre | : Technology & Engineering |
| ISBN | : 9780102987591 |
The Department's work to address the affordability gap around the equipment budget and costs appears to have had a positive effect. However, there remain risks to affordability, most significantly around the half of the budget relating to equipment support costs which were not subjected these to the same level of detailed scrutiny as the procurement costs. The Department also does not understand the implications of its £1.2 billion underspend on the Equipment Plan in 2012-13. With the exception of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, there have been no significant cost increases and only minimal in-year delays. In the last year, there was a net increase in costs of £708 million in respect of the 11 projects in the review. The main contribution to this was a £754 million increase in the cost of carriers. Three of the projects the report examined experienced delays during the year, together amounting to 17 months. A third of projects this year reported delays compared to over half of the projects in last year's report. However, the NAO is unable to report on timings for two of the 11 projects - Lightning II and Specialist Vehicles -because the Department has not yet given final approval. This report also includes an examination of the MOD's Complex Weapons Programme, which aims to achieve net financial benefits of £1.2 billion over ten years. Noting that these benefits have already been 'banked', if there are delays or cancellations some of these benefits may be lost
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 40 |
| Release | : 2013-05-14 |
| Genre | : Technology & Engineering |
| ISBN | : 9780215057419 |
The Ministry of Defence has now reported on the affordability of its ten-year forward plan to purchase and support military equipment (the Equipment Plan) totalling some £159 billion, as well as its progress on delivering its largest projects in 2012. The Department has made a good start but there are concerns about over-optimistic assumptions, the completeness and robustness of support cost estimates, and risks to capability. The affordability of the Plan is based on an agreement between the Department and HM Treasury that it will receive a one per cent annual increase in its equipment budget over the period from 2015-16 to 2020-21. If this is now not achieved in the current fiscal circumstances then the current plan may well be unaffordable. The addition of a contingency provision of £4.8 billion is a positive step, however this may not be sufficient to absorb cost growth. In addition, the Department lacks a robust understanding of the support costs, and the associated risks, including the size of the budget that may be required to recover equipment from Afghanistan. The Department also faces a particular challenge in delivering projects to agreed timescales. Ultimately, the Department bears the risk of these delays in terms of military capability and we need greater transparency on these risks and how they are mitigated. This includes the Department being clear on the impact on capability if the £8 billion that is currently unallocated in the budget cannot be used for purchasing new equipment because it is needed to absorb cost growth
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 20 |
| Release | : 2014-04 |
| Genre | : Broadband communication systems |
| ISBN | : 0215070488 |
The Government has failed to deliver meaningful competition in the procurement of its £1.2 billion rural broadband programme, leaving BT effectively in a monopoly position. Despite warnings the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has allowed poor cost transparency and the lack of detailed broadband rollout plans to create conditions whereby alternative suppliers may be crowded out. Whilst BT claims it is making further concessions, this is not impacting on rural communities. Local authorities are still contractually prevented from sharing information to see if they are securing best terms for the public money they spend. Communities can still not access the detailed data they need to understand whether they will be covered by BT's scheme in their area. The lack of transparency on costs and BT's insistence on non-disclosure agreements is symptomatic of BT's exploiting its monopoly position. The Department needs to work urgently with all local authorities to publish detailed mapping of their implementation plans, down to full (7-digit) postcode level. The information should include speed of service, as soon as that is available. The Department should collect, analyse and publish data on deployment costs in the current programme, to inform its consideration of bids from suppliers under the next round of fundingMargaret Hodge was speaking as the Committee published its 50th Report of this Session which, on the basis of evidence from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and BT, examined the roll out of the rural broadband programme
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 72 |
| Release | : 2013-03-07 |
| Genre | : Technology & Engineering |
| ISBN | : 9780215054647 |
For the sixth successive year, the Ministry of Defence Accounts were qualified. The Qualifications covered non-compliance with international reporting standards on the treatment of some contracts; lack of audit evidence on the valuation of inventory (worth some £3 billion) and of capital spares (worth some £7 billion); and on the regularity of the Accounts because of the failure to obtain approval for the remuneration package of the Chief of Defence Materiel. The MoD was also five months late in submitting its audited accounts to Parliament. The National Audit Office had found errors in its sample examination of accruals and so the MoD decided to resolve these problems before submitting the accounts. The MoD said they did not have the necessary expertise to manage the financial complexity that featured in the implementation of the Strategic Defence and Security Review so sought assistance. The MoD should ensure its people have the right skills to deal with all financial problems so that they do not need to bring in expensive external accountants. There is also concern about the MoD's reluctance to estimate the full costs of its operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The NAO did not consider that the MoD has adequate information, especially with respect to recording the cost of its activities and outputs, to run its business effectively. The MoD should set out its commitment to improving its management information. It is also vital that defence spending remains at more than 2 per cent of GDP in line with the UK's NATO commitment.
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 78 |
| Release | : 2013-12-19 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 9780215065834 |
In pursuing unpaid tax, HMRC has not clearly demonstrated that it is on the side of the majority of taxpayers who pay their taxes in full. Last year the Department collected less tax in real terms than it managed to collect in 2011-12. This was despite the stated ambition to crack down on tax avoidance. The tax gap as defined by HMRC did not shrink, but in 2011-12 grew to £35 billion. Furthermore, this figure does not include all the tax revenue lost. HMRC pursues tax owed by the smaller businesses but seems to lose its nerve when it comes to mounting prosecutions against multinational corporations. It predicted that it would collect £3.12 billion unpaid tax from UK holders of Swiss bank accounts and this figure was built into budget estimates, but in 2013-14 it has so far secured just £440 million. HMRC aims to make the UK more attractive to business but the incentives to international corporations may also enable them to avoid tax. HMRC needs to strike the right balance between support and enforcement. The implementation of the Real Time Information system has been encouraging overall though some small businesses are continuing to struggle. It is of concern that HMRC is planning from April 2014 to fine companies even though some face continuing challenges. The successful implementation of Universal Credit depends on RTI continuing to work properly but the system does not have full disaster recovery arrangements. System failures could have serious consequences for payments to individuals
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 24 |
| Release | : 2014-04-10 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 0215070771 |
The Public Accounts Committee concludes that the BBC's Digital Media Initiative (DMI) was a complete failure. The DMI was a transformation programme that involved developing new technology for BBC staff to create, share and manage video and audio content and programmes from their desktops. Siemens were contracted to build the DMI system, but the contract was terminated and brought in-house in 2009. But the BBC failed to complete the DMI Programme and in May 2013 cancelled it at a cost to licence fee payers of £98.4 million. The BBC was far too complacent about the DMI's troubled history and the very high risks involved in taking it in-house. The DMI was 18 months behind schedule when the BBC took it in-house from Siemens. The BBC did not obtain independent technical assurance for the system design or ensure that the intended users were sufficiently engaged with the Programme. Poor governance meant that these important weaknesses went unchallenged, even when things started to go badly wrong. Projects like the DMI need to be led by an experienced senior responsible owner who has the skills, authority and determination to see the project through to successful implementation. The BBC needs to report using clear milestones that give the Executive and the Trust an unambiguous and accurate account of progress and any problems. The BBC Executive should apply more rigorous and timely scrutiny to its major projects to limit potential losses and the BBC Trust must be more proactive in chasing and challenging the BBC Executive's performance.
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 52 |
| Release | : 2014-01-03 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 9780215065971 |
The report Access To Clinical Trial Information And The Stockpiling Of Tamiflu (HC 295) examines two separate but connected issues; the routine withholding of clinical trial information from doctors and researchers, and the effectiveness of stockpiling of Tamiflu during an influenza pandemic. The full results of clinical trials are being routinely and legally withheld from doctors and researchers by the manufacturers of medicines. The ability of doctors, researchers and patients to make informed decisions about treatments is being undermined. Regulators and the industry have recently made proposals to open up access, but these do not cover the issue of access to the results of trials in the past which bear on the efficacy and safety of medicines in use today. Research suggests that the probability of completed trials being published is roughly 50%. Trials which give a favorable verdict are about twice as likely to be published as trials giving unfavorable
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 40 |
| Release | : 2013-12-12 |
| Genre | : Business & Economics |
| ISBN | : 9780215064868 |
The Whole of Government Accounts for 2011-12 presents the combined financial activities of some 3,000 organisations. It provides vital data on which Government needs to act. Key issues have been identified, such as the £19.4 billion liability for clinical negligence claims. But it is frustrating to see other issues seemingly ignored in long-term policy making and spending decisions. In one year, the public sector was defrauded of over £20 billion and the tax gap rose to £35 billion. The financial liabilities for dealing with nuclear waste also keep growing. There is room for improvement in the document itself and how it is used. Users find it hard to understand, for example, why the Government debt and deficit highlighted in the WGA differ from those reported in the ONS's National Accounts. Also, by changing definitions in its commentary published alongside the WGA, the Treasury makes it difficult to track changes over time. The Treasury's introduction in the commentary of a new concept of so-called 'direct' expenditure leaves out key costs such as the interest paid on the National Debt. The publicly owned and controlled bodies - such as Network Rail and the taxpayer owned banks - are still being excluded, in defiance of normal accounting rules. The usefulness of the WGA is also being limited by the length of time it takes to produce the document and by poor quality data from some of the bodies. The accounts have again been qualified over the completeness, timeliness and accuracy of the information supplied for schools and academies
| Author | : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts |
| Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
| Total Pages | : 48 |
| Release | : 2014-03-04 |
| Genre | : Medical |
| ISBN | : 9780215068873 |
Nearly one fifth of consultant posts in emergency departments were either vacant or filled by locums in 2012. Neither the Department nor NHS England have a clear strategy to tackle the shortage of A&E consultants and there is too much reliance on temporary staff to fill gaps. The Committee raised the possibility of paying consultants more to work at struggling hospitals. Greater use in A&E of consultants from other departments could also be made, or mandate that all trainee consultants spend time in A&E, or make A&E positions more attractive through improved terms and conditions. The slow introduction of round-the-clock consultant cover in hospitals - which will not be in place before the end of 2016-17 - is also having a negative impact. More people die as a result of being admitted at the weekend when fewer consultants are in A&E. Changing this relies on the British Medical Association and NHS Employers negotiating a more flexible consultants' contract, and neither the Department nor NHS England has direct control over the timescale or details of these negotiations. Hospitals, GPs and community health services all have a role to play in reducing emergency admissions - but financial incentives to make this happen are not in place. While hospitals get no money if patients are readmitted within 30 days, there are no financial incentives for community and social care services to reduce emergency admissions. Both the Department of Health and NHS England struggled to explain to us who is ultimately accountable for the efficient delivery of local A&E services
