Download or read book Ministry of Defence written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Major Projects Report 2008 provides information on the time, cost and performance of 20 of the largest military equipment projects being undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, where the main investment decision has been taken, as well as the top 10 projects in the earlier Assessment Phase. In the last year, the 20 biggest projects suffered a further £205 million of cost increases, and 96 months additional slippage. This is the worst in-year slippage since 2003. The total forecast costs for these projects have now risen to nearly £28 billion, some 12 per cent over budget. Total slippage stands at over 40 years, a 36 per cent increase on approved timescales. The number of Key User Requirements reported as being "at risk" of not being met has also increased from 12 to 16 in the last year. This is a disappointing set of results, particularly because the problems are being caused by previously identified failures such as poor project management, a lack of realism, not identifying key dependencies and underestimating of costs and timescales. The reoccurrence of these problems suggests that the Department's latest acquisition reforms, introduced in 2001, are not yet resulting in the Department making better investment decisions or improving the execution of its defence projects. Project delays also have a detrimental impact on operational capability and costs, in some cases forcing the Department to buy interim vehicles and continue using equipment suffering from obsolescence in Afghanistan and either older Hercules aircraft will have to serve beyond their planned out of service date, or other transport aircraft will have to be bought or leased to address a growing gap in capability.
Download or read book Major Projects Report 2006 written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-11-24 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This particular publication is published alongside a second volume containing the project summary sheets (HCP 23-II ISBN 0102943737). This NAO report into the MoD's procurement of defence equipment examines the cost, time and performance data for projects in the year ended 31 March 2006. In total 30 defence equipment projects were examined (20 where the decision to proceed had been taken and 10 still being assessed). One project, the PFI deal for Skynet 5 communication satellites is dealt with in a separate appendix so that account can be taken of its restructuring. Traditionally these reports have focused on trends and reasons for cost movement. This year the focus is on the Department's efforts to live within its means by reallocating costs and re-assessing quantities. As well as the summary assessment of performance, the report contains case studies of major projects.
Download or read book The Major Projects Report 2009 written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a companion volume to the main report (HCP 85-I, ISBN 9780102963342)
Download or read book Ministry of Defence annual report and accounts 2006 07 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-28 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report analyses the Annual Report and Accounts 2006-07 of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) (published as HC 697, session 2006-07, ISBN 9780102946369). The MoD's assessment of its expected achievements against its six Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets, which run until the end of March 2008, has deteriorated since the previous year's Annual Report and Accounts. At the end of 2007, the MoD did not expect to meet the target relating to generating forces and expects "only partly" to meet targets relating to recruitment and retention, and defence equipment procurement. The failure to meet the target for generating forces is a consequence of the continuing high levels of deployment of the Armed Forces. The Committee is concerned that the Armed Forces have been operating at or above the level of concurrent operations they are resourced and structured to deliver for seven of the last eight years, and for every year since 2002. Achieving manning balance in all three Service continues to be a challenge. Shortages remain within many specialist trades in all three Armed Services, but especially in the Army Medical Service. The report notes the failure to meet harmony guidelines in the Army and the Royal Air Force - another indicator of the pressure on the Armed Forces from the continuing high level of operations - and another target missed by all three services is for ethnic minority recruitment. The MoD continues to experience substantial forecast cost increases on equipment programmes, and the report notes delays in delivering equipment programmes to the planned in-service dates. The MoD faces difficult choices in the face of expected cuts in the defence programme and the management of a streamlining exercise to reduce civilian posts in the headquarters.
Download or read book Journals of the House of Commons written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tanker Wars written by Martin S. Navias and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 1996-12-31 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Iran-Iraq war, hundreds of merchant vessels were attacked, more than 400 seamen killed and millions of dollars' worth of damages were suffered by owners, charterers and insurers. In the most sustained assault on merchant shipping since the Second World War, the control of shipping routes, destruction of enemy and enemy-allied ships, and the protection of oil exports, were key objectives. These campaigns touched the economic and security interests of the Gulf states by threatening their exports and highlighting their political and military vulnerability. The ripples of the tanker wars extended well beyond the region with attacks on vessels with foreign flags which invoked international concern and drew in foreign naval forces.
Download or read book Parliamentary Papers House of Commons and Command written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Helping newly registered business meet their tax obligations written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-25 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The NAO report on this topic was published as HC 98, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780102943825)
Download or read book The efficiency programme written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-11 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government's Efficiency Programme is designed to achieve ongoing efficiency gains across the public sector of £21.5 billion a year by 2007-08 to improve front line services, to reduce Civil Service posts by more than 70,000 and to reallocate a further 13,500 posts to front line services.Departments are responsible for delivering and quantifying the efficiencies achieved while the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) checks the robustness of figures put forward and provides support to help departments deliver their gains. On 26 February the Committee took evidence on the £13.3 billion of annual efficiency gains departments had reported up to 30 September 2006. While some of these reported gains are robust, almost £10 billion of reported efficiency gains remain uncertain. On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General,evidence was taken from OGC and the Treasury on four main issues: the measurement of efficiency gains and headcount reductions; the effects of efficiency projects on service quality; the management of the Programme; and embedding a culture of efficiency into the public sector.
Download or read book Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2004 05 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-04-20 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report analyses MoD's annual report and accounts 2004-05 (published in October 2005 - later than planned - as HC 464, session 2005-06, ISBN 0102935424) which combines MoD's annual performance report and the consolidated departmental resource accounts. Overall MoD's performance against its seven Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets has been mixed: three were "met", two were "partly met", one was "on course" to be met, and one was "not yet assessed". On recruitment and retention (partly met) all three armed services are suffering from critical shortages in various specialist trades, including aircrew and medical personnel. Although MoD reported £400m of savings in the operating costs of the Defence Logistics Organisation, the Committee criticizes the fact that not all of them could be validated. On procurement, MoD did not meet the targets relating to project time slippage. Cost decreases of £699 million were reported on the top 20 major defence equipment projects, but much of this was a result of cuts in the numbers of equipment ordered or in the capability of equipment. Losses reported in MoD's Financial Accounts totalled some £400 million, a lower figure than the previous year but still a substantial sum. Reported losses on the Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) programme, which involves the procurement of four transport ships, were some £100 million and further losses might arise. Another loss totalling £147 million related to a building project at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. The building was unable to meet the requirement and no other use could be found for it. It is another example of substantial waste which has to avoided in the future.
Download or read book Identity and Passport Service written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-10 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines how lessons learnt from the introduction of ePassports will be incorporated into future projects; the cost of authenticating applicants' identities; passport fee trends; the measures being taken by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) to hold down passport fees; and working with others to reduce costs and improve border security. An ePassport contains an electronic chip storing biographical data and a digital facial image of the passport holder. From 2009 new second generation ePassports will incorporate the fingerprints of the passport holder. Passport fees have risen ahead of inflation since September 2003 to fund ePassport technology and other projects intended to improve the security of the UK passport. From 2009 all passport applicants will have to attend in person to provide fingerprints for inclusion in second generation ePassports. The set-up cost of data collection, validation and storage necessary to introduce these changes will be substantial. During 2007 IPS has been introducing personal interviews at its 69 new interviewing offices for first time adult passport applicants. At least one of the 69 offices is intended to be within an hour's travel by public or private transport for 95% of the UK population (except in remote locations). But elderly and disabled people may still face difficulties in making the journey. With the introduction of second generation ePassports, all applicants will need to attend a local office to give their fingerprints. The long term durability of the chip embedded in the ePassport book is unproven.
Download or read book Major Projects Report 2008 written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Major Projects Report 2007 covers cost, time and performance data for military equipment projects in the year ended 31 March 2008. 20 of the largest projects are examined where the main investment decision has been taken by the Ministry of Defence (the MoD) along with ten projects still in the Assessment Phase. Six projects are new to this report: future lynx; modernised target acquisition designation sight/pilots night vision sensor; naval extrememly high frequency/super high frequency satellite communication terminals; Typhoon future capability programme; advanced jet trainer project and project Eagle
Download or read book Defence Procurement And Industry Policy written by Stefan Markowski and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2010 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defence procurement remains a relatively under-researched area, mostly focusing on the USA. This revealing book looks at defence procurement from the point of view of smaller countries such as Israel, Australia, Poland and Spain.
Download or read book Committee Reports Published by HMSO Indexed by Chairman written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Efficiency and Reform Group s role in improving public sector value for money written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Efficiency and Reform Group (the Group) was established within the Cabinet Office in May 2010 to lead efforts to cut government spending by £6 billion in 2010-11. Its long term aim is to improve value for money across government by strengthening the central coordination of measures to improve efficiency. The imperative to make savings in the short term has involved the Group imposing new controls on departments, such as moratoria on certain expenditure. Sustained efficiency improvements, though, will need a much deeper change to both the culture and institutional structure of government. The Group also needs to clear up confusion over who is accountable for what in terms of improving value for money, especially in defining its responsibilities and those of the Treasury and individual departments. The Group's actions have resulted in efficiency savings of £3.75 billion across departments in 2010-11. It should continue to describe any future spending reductions accurately and explain any impact on services. The scale of the challenge to deliver efficiencies is huge: the Government intends that half of the £81 billion reduction in spending planned over the next three years should come from efficiencies rather than through cuts to services or delays to important projects. Many of the efficiencies must be achieved in areas where the Group currently has a limited influence, or by local bodies, where it has none. The Group should set out how it will operate to ensure that its approach can be replicated across the wider public sector.
Download or read book Providing the UK s carrier strike capability written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-11-29 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) had started, the Department had contracts for two carriers with an estimated cost of £5.24 billion and delivery dates of 2016 and 2018. Decisions taken in the Review mean the UK will have no carrier aircraft capability from 2011-2020. While two carriers are still being built, only one will be converted to launch the planes that have now been selected, and the other will be mothballed. The UK will only have one operational carrier with a significantly reduced availability at sea when Carrier Strike capability is reintroduced in 2020. That carrier is being built according to the old design and will have to be modified to make it compatible with the requirements of the new aircraft: the cost of these modifications will not be known until 2012. The SDSR decision is forecast to save £3.4 billion, but only £600 million of this is cash savings while the remainder is simply deferring expenditure beyond the Department's 10 year planning horizon. The decision will lead to nine years without Carrier Strike and full capability will not be achieved until 2030. And more work will be needed to get the best and most flexible operational use from the carrier. The Committee is disappointed that the systemic issues that have appeared in its other recent defence reports continue to arise. The Committee has built on what has been said in past reports and focussed on two key areas: strategic decision-making and delivery of capabilities
Download or read book Managing the defence estate written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-29 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an extensive and complex estate of some 24,000 hectares, and after the Forestry Commission, is the second largest landowner in the UK. The estate is valued at over £18 billion and costs some £3.3 billion to operate. The estate is seen as essential to the delivery of military capability and the welfare and morale of Service personnel. This report, from the Committee of Public Accounts, has taken evidence from the MoD on the standard of living accommodation, the Department's ability to prioritise estate projects effectively, and its response to staff shortages. It follows on from an NAO report (HCP 154, session 2006-7), Managing the Defence Estate: Quality and Sustainability (ISBN 9780102944679). It sets out 9 recommendations, including: more than half of single living accommodation and over 40% of family accommodation does not meet the Department's definition of high-quality accommodation and is therefore substandard; that poor accommodation has a negative impact on retention rates; there is no information on when poor accommodation is to be upgraded, with some military personnel and their families having to continue to live in substandard housing for the next 20 years; there are gaps in the Department's understanding of estate costs; the Department employs only 56% of safety works staff and 57% of quantity surveyors that it needs; that implementing energy saving measures at its' defence sites would bring environmental benefits and savings of more than £2 million annually.
