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Ministry of Defence loses £6.3bn assetsCommons defence committee report reveals the MoD has no idea whether lost assets including radios still exist
The Ministry of Defence has mislaid assets worth £6.3bn and does not even know whether they still exist.
The latest exposure of the ministry's lack of control over its finances and equipment is disclosed in a report by MPs on the Commons defence committee. It describes as "alarming" that the MoD cannot find lost assets including radios equipped with secure communications systems worth £184m.
"It is unacceptable, despite the difficulty of tracking assets in theatre, that the MoD cannot, at a given time, account for the whereabouts of [the radios]," says the report, adding that their loss had "security as well as financial implications".
It is unclear precisely what assets are missing. The report refers only "capital spares and inventory". The MoD told the defence committee: "We're running 845,000 lines of stock, spread across 78 IT systems covering anywhere in the world we currently have bases."
The MPs say: "It is wholly unsatisfactory that the MoD expects stock control problems should continue for another two to four years. This is not an abstract problem: equipment is needed by troops in the field and proper logistics are an essential part of effective military operations".
They say they are dismayed that the Comptroller and Auditor General, parliament's chief financial and efficiency watchdog, has found it necessary to qualify the MoD's accounts for the fourth successive year. "We find it surprising and worrying that this year's qualification should not have been foreseen by the previous permanent secretary [Sir Bill Jeffrey] given that it was a clear requirement on all government departments to adopt the relevant reporting standards from 200910."
In an excoriating passage, the committee reports: "The tightness of the financial situation makes it all the more essential that the department use the best available management and accounting techniques to get the best possible value out of scarce public resources, as well as from human capital. Annual qualification of the accounts by the C&AG raises legitimate questions as to whether it is capable of doing so."
The report also reveals that the armed forces do not know how many reservists they have, and records "deficiencies" in the auditing of pay and allowances.
James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister and chairman of the committee, said: "The MoD's inability to manage existing resources makes it harder for them to request additional funding. It is also worrying that the work carried out so far to address previously-raised concerns has simply revealed how big these problems are."
He added: "This is not some abstract problem existing only on paper: equipment is needed by troops in the field and proper logistics are an essential part of effective military operations."
Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday 5 July 2011.
The Ministry of Defence has mislaid assets worth £6.3bn and does not even know whether they still exist.
The latest exposure of the ministry's lack of control over its finances and equipment is disclosed in a report by MPs on the Commons defence committee. It describes as "alarming" that the MoD cannot find lost assets including radios equipped with secure communications systems worth £184m.
"It is unacceptable, despite the difficulty of tracking assets in theatre, that the MoD cannot, at a given time, account for the whereabouts of [the radios]," says the report, adding that their loss had "security as well as financial implications".
It is unclear precisely what assets are missing. The report refers only "capital spares and inventory". The MoD told the defence committee: "We're running 845,000 lines of stock, spread across 78 IT systems covering anywhere in the world we currently have bases."
The MPs say: "It is wholly unsatisfactory that the MoD expects stock control problems should continue for another two to four years. This is not an abstract problem: equipment is needed by troops in the field and proper logistics are an essential part of effective military operations".
They say they are dismayed that the Comptroller and Auditor General, parliament's chief financial and efficiency watchdog, has found it necessary to qualify the MoD's accounts for the fourth successive year. "We find it surprising and worrying that this year's qualification should not have been foreseen by the previous permanent secretary [Sir Bill Jeffrey] given that it was a clear requirement on all government departments to adopt the relevant reporting standards from 200910."
In an excoriating passage, the committee reports: "The tightness of the financial situation makes it all the more essential that the department use the best available management and accounting techniques to get the best possible value out of scarce public resources, as well as from human capital. Annual qualification of the accounts by the C&AG raises legitimate questions as to whether it is capable of doing so."
The report also reveals that the armed forces do not know how many reservists they have, and records "deficiencies" in the auditing of pay and allowances.
James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister and chairman of the committee, said: "The MoD's inability to manage existing resources makes it harder for them to request additional funding. It is also worrying that the work carried out so far to address previously-raised concerns has simply revealed how big these problems are."
He added: "This is not some abstract problem existing only on paper: equipment is needed by troops in the field and proper logistics are an essential part of effective military operations."
Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday 5 July 2011.
