Monday 23rd
March 3.30pm, Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will examine the Ministry of
Defence's (MoD) Annual Reports and Accounts for 2024-25 on
Monday, 23rd March at 3.30pm.
In 2024-25, the MoD's total expenditure was £60.2bn, which it
managed through three separate plans. A recent report from the
National Audit Office (NAO) identified issues in each of the
three. The MoD has signalled its intention to unify the three
plans under one cohesive Defence Investment Plan. However,
despite Government assurances that the plan would be published in
Autumn 2025, it has not yet done so.
The PAC will likely use this session to examine the impact this
delay is having on both the military and the defence industry.
Questions may also focus on longstanding military recruitment and
retention issues, and the risks this poses to the UK's overall
defence capabilities.
In 2024, the MoD announced a £6bn deal with Annington Homes that
would see them require more than 36,000 military homes that had
been sold by a previous government in 1996 and subsequently
leased back. The Committee may question witnesses on what this
could mean for living standards for service personnel and their
families.
The NAO's recent audit also identified two issues which cast
doubt on the reliability of the information provided by the MoD,
leading to the Comptroller and Auditor General qualifying his
opinion on the accounts. The PAC is likely to examine why the MoD
was unable to provide sufficient appropriate audit evidence to
support the valuation, existence and classification of £6.13
billion in long-term assets, and why it incurred non-Budget
expenditure of £2.56 billion which had not been approved by
Parliament.
Witnesses from 3.30pm:
-
CB, Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Defence
- Rupert Pearce, National Armaments Director, Ministry of
Defence
- Aneen Blackmore, Director General Finance, Ministry of
Defence
- Air Marshal CBE, Deputy Chief of the
Defence Staff (Force Development)
- Lieutenant General Anna-Lee Reilly CB, Director Strategic
Capability, Engagement and Operations, Defence Equipment &
Support, Ministry of Defence
