Defence Secretary Oral Statement - Defence Command Paper 2023

Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace's statement to Parliament on the refreshed Defence Command Paper.

"With permission I would like to make a statement on the publication of our refreshed Defence Command Paper.

It’s just over two years since we published the original command paper in March 2021.

Two years in which our security has been challenged in so many ways and this is the Defence response to a more contested and volatile world.

In the last four years that I’ve been Defence Secretary, I’ve been consistent about the reform I have sought to implement

I want Defence to be threat-led, understanding and acting on the threats facing our nation as our sole-mission not protecting force structures, cap badges or much-loved equipment, but on making sure we are challenging the threats.

I want MOD to be a campaigning department – adopting a more proactive posture, our forces more forward and present in the world, with a return to campaigning assertively and constantly.

Pushing back those threats and our adversaries. And I want Defence to be sustainable in every sense. For too long Defence was hollowed-out by both Labour and Conservative Governments, that left our forces overstretched and under-equipped.

But we must match our ambitions to our resources, our equipment plans to our budget and take care of our people to sustain them in their duties.

We must never forget the travesty that was snatch Land Rovers in Afghanistan.

The 2021 Defence Command Paper was true to those principles and with some tough choices presented an honest plan for what we can and will do.

A credible force capable of protecting the nation, ready to meet the threats of today but also investing heavily to modernise those of the future.

A force in which every major platform would be renewed by 2035, from armoured vehicles to Dreadnought submarines, frigates to satellites. And we did not plan on issuing a new Command Paper just two years on.

Many of the conclusions of that Command Paper remain right – Russia was and is the greatest threat to European security. China’s rapid military modernisation and growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and beyond do pose an increasing challenge to us all.

But I have always said as the situation changes, we must change with it. And since the first DCP was released, the world has shifted once more - from a competitive age to a contested and volatile world.​

The technology advances we predicted materialised. The threats and challenges we feared have manifested. And there is no more immediate threat than Russia.

Its full-scale invasion of Ukraine was not simply an assault on a proud and sovereign nation. It was an attack on all our values, on European security, and the open international order on which stability and prosperity have depended for over three quarters of a century.

Today right now, the people of Ukraine are suffering the tragic consequences of President Putin’s illegal, unprovoked invasion; his naked aggression and imperial ambitions played out in a tragedy of epic human suffering.

The brave citizens and soldiers of the armed forces of Ukraine are protecting their own nation and people, quite heroically, taking on the once mighty Russian forces. And the whole House recognises that they fight not just for their freedom, but for ours.

They are not just liberating their homeland but defending the rules-based system. As Defence Secretary, to import the lessons learnt from this conflict to our own forces is important. And while I wish such lessons were generated in a different way this conflict has become an incubator of new ways of war.

They are proving the way for warfare in the 2020s. Which is a whole-of-nation, internationally partnered, innovative, digitised and operating with a tempo, precision and range requirement. And a recognition that there is a trade-off between assurance levels and operational impact.

I’m proud too of the role the UK is playing in supporting Ukraine. Whether providing equipment, training or political support. Or galvanising European and international allies and industrial partners to do likewise.

But the return of war to the continent of Europe – alongside growing threats elsewhere in the world – has meant we must sharpen our approach.

The Integrated Review Refresh, published in March of this year outlined how we would do this. It would shape the global strategic environment; increase our focus on deterrence and defence; address vulnerabilities that leave our nations exposed; and invest in the UK’s unique strengths.

Defence is central to all of these efforts. Which is why, after three decades of which all parties have continued drawing the post-covid war ‘peace dividend’ this Prime Minister reversed that trend and provided Defence an extra £24 billion over 4 years.

He and the Chancellor have gone further in response to the war in Ukraine. Next year, we will spend over £50 billion on defence for the first-time in our history. That is nearly a £12 billion of cash investment a year higher than 2019 when I started.

That’s more than 10% increase in real terms. And this government has committed to increase spending yet further over the longer-term of 2.5% of GDP as we improve the fiscal position and grow our economy.

Because our Defence plans and the Armed Forces to deliver them must be robust and credible, not fantasy force designs, not unfunded gimmicks and not top trump numbers.

As Russia has so effectively proven, there is no point in having parade ground Armies, mass ranks of men and machines if they cannot be integrated as a single full spectrum force, sustained in the field under all demands of modern warfighting.

That takes professional forces, well-equipped and rapidly adaptable, supported by critical enablers and vast stockpiles of munitions. And that is why in this document you won’t find a shiny new announcement, comms-led policy driving, unsustainable force designs or any major new platforms for military enthusiasts to put up on their charts of their bedroom wall.

We stand by the Command Paper that we published in 2021 but we must get there faster, doing defence differently and getting ourselves onto a campaign footing to protect the nation and help it prosper.

As I said, standing here when DCP21 was announced, we owe it to the men and women of our Armed Forces to make policy reality and the work was just beginning. So in this refresh we are focused on how to drive the lessons of Ukraine into our core business on how to recover the warfighting resilience needed to generate credible conventional deterrence.

And the great advantage of having served in Defence for some time is that my ministerial team and I have taken a proper look under the bonnet. Consequently, we are clear that our strategic advantage derives from four key sources which require urgent prioritisation.

First and foremost our first-class people. Our men and women are not just brave and committed but talented and incredibly skilled. They are our real battle-winning capability and it is our duty to ensure that they are well supported, prepared and equipped as possible. So we are going to invest in them.

Last year I commissioned Richard Haythornthwaite to conduct the first review of workforce incentivisation for almost thirty years. It’s such good work that we are incorporating the response into our Command Paper. And today I am unveiling a new employment model and skills framework for our Armed Forces.

It will offer our people a Spectrum of Service that allows far greater career flexibility. Making it easier for military personnel to ‘zig-zag’ between different roles whether regular or reserve or between the Civil Service and industry.

We are transforming our forces overall employment offer by adopting a Total Reward Approach to provide a more compelling and competitive incentive package.

And, since all our Armed Forces personnel deserve the best quality accommodation, we are injecting a further £400 million to improve our service accommodation in the next two years.

Many of us over Christmas would have been frustrated by the poor support our service personnel and the families received from those tasked with looking after their accommodation. It is for that reason I withheld their profit and used the money to freeze – for one year only – the rent increases our personnel were due to pay.

Taken together alongside such initiatives as wrap-around childcare they are intended to enrich careers and enhance the ability of our most talented people to keep protecting the British people and to ensure they are rewarded and fulfilled while they do so.

Our second priority is further strengthening our scientific and technological base. We are already world leaders in specific area. But to continue outmatching our adversaries we must stay ahead of the curve in digital, in data, and in emerging scientific fields. In 2021 we said we would invest £6.6 billion in advanced Research and Development.

In fact, we are now investing significantly more to stay ahead in the technologies proving themselves vital on the battlefields of Ukraine, such as AI, quantum and robotics.

And we are enabling a culture of innovation across Defence, pulling through those R&D breakthroughs to the front-line. Following in Ukraine’s footsteps, we are increasing sourcing those £100 solutions that can stop 100 million threats in their track. Winning both the kinetic and economic exchange of modern warfare.

Of course, our ability to do that depends on the quality of our relationship with the industry, which is our third priority.

I’m pushing the MOD to form a closer alliance with our industrial partners - a genuine partnership to sustain our defence will mean doing things differently.

Ukraine reminds us that time waits for no one. It’s no good holding out for the 100% solution that is obsolete by the time it is launched. 80% is often good enough. Especially if it means swiftly putting kit into the hands of our service personnel. Capabilities that can be rapidly upgraded, spiral developed for the relentless cycles of battlefield adoption to win the innovation battle.

And instead of sticking to acquisition programmes that drag on for decades, we’re setting maximum delivery periods – five years for hardware and three years for digital programmes.

Our fourth priority is productivity and campaigning. In order to face this increasingly contested and volatile world we need to make major changes to the machinery of the Department and its methods.

We are emphasising an ethos focused ruthlessly on the delivery of real-world effect, increasing the bang for buck in everything we do. This approached reaches into every part of the Defence enterprise – from the front line to the back office. And involves a major re-design of the Department of state.

We must shift our whole organisational culture away from the previous peace-time mentality to one where we live and operate as we would fight. Focusing more on outputs than inputs. And achieving a better balance between risk and reward.

That means empowering people to live and operate alongside partners and sometimes to be enabled by them when in lower threat environments.

That means ensuring our equipment whether Type 31, Challenger 3 or Typhoons has the infrastructure and supplies needed to sustain operations more of the time and deliver real world effect wherever and whenever it’s needed.

And it means working with the relevant regulatory authorities – for example the Military Aviation Authority – to accelerate the experimentation, testing and innovation of new technologies while remaining within legal bounds.

But want to emphasise one final aspect of the Command Paper refresh. Namely, the development of a global campaigning approach. We started with a review of our head office where we had broken out campaign delivery from policy formation and have established integrated campaign teams.

They have adversary not geographic focuses and will drive our enduring campaigns in the same way operational commanders lead our forces on deployed operations.

And the indivisibility of operational theatres in today’s world means Defence must constantly be ready to respond globally to safeguard our interests and those of our allies.

Sometimes it will be to evacuate our citizens in moments of crisis like Sudan, other times it will be to deter an adversary or reassure a friend. And as we’ve shown through our support for Ukraine, the UK government has not only the political will but only matters if it is matched by the military agility. So today we are establishing Defence’s Global Response Force.

Ready, integrated and lethal it will better cohere existing forces from across land, sea and air, space and cyber, to get there first in response to unpredictable events around the world.

Critically, today’s paper also recognises that is in the interconnected world, the UK is unlikely to act alone. Partnerships are critical to our security and prosperity. So, in future, we will be allied by design and national by exception. Our support for NATO will remain ironclad. But we will continue to prioritise our core relationships. We will invest in deepening relationships with new partners. And it’s why we invested to expand our global defence network improving their communications and coordinating defence attaches within our intelligence functions.

None of this is headline grabbing stuff, but it is the fine details that makes a difference to our national security.

To conclude, I would like to add the paper is the result of having several years in the Department and is understood where it needs most attention. For the continuity in office is improving and I’m incredibly grateful to the long-serving Minister of the Armed Forces Mr Heappey, whose experience in uniform and public office has provided the basis for this paper.

And we are grateful to the hundreds of individuals and groups who contributed to the first challenge phase of its drafting – from academics, to serving personnel to industry representatives. Not to mention the many Members in this House. Most of what we learnt from you is encapsulated in this document.

Madame Deputy Speaker, this is likely to be one of my last appearances at this despatch box. It has been the greatest privilege to have served as Secretary of State for Defence for the last four years. I want to thank my team, civil servants, special advisers and members of this House for their support and their challenge.

All of us here have the common interest in defending this fine country, its values and its freedoms. Of all of the many functions of Government, Defence is the most important and more important than ever as the next 10 years will be more unstable and insecure. The men and women of our Armed Forces are second-to-none and Britain’s place in the world is anchored in their professionalism and sacrifice.

I believe we will increasingly call upon them in the years ahead, and we must ensure they are ready to answer that call. I wish them and whoever replaces me well."