Ministry Of Defence Annual Report And Accounts 2006 07

The MoD annual report & accounts 2006-07 published as HC 697, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780102946369). Government response to HC 61, session 2007-08 (ISBN 9780215038333)

This publication sets out the annual report and accounts of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2006-07, including a summary of performance against the Public Service Agreement (PSA) objectives and targets. The second section of the report contains the consolidated departmental resource accounts for 2006-07.

Government response to HCP 57, session 2006-07 (ISBN 9780215031648)

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.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) assesses that it is on course to achieve its Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets which run until March 2008. The Annual Report describes military operations undertaken in 2005-06, but the MoD has refused the Committee the information on which it bases its assessment that these operations are on course for success. The Committee is concerned about several other areas. The reliability of air transport and the shortage of serviceable battlefield helicopters should be addressed. Whilst the manning requirement for the Armed Forces has been met, this is because the manning targets have fallen, despite the increased level of operational activity. The Armed Forces continue to experience difficulties in the recruitment and retention of personnel although the outflow figures provide no evidence of an exodus. The MoD has introduced financial incentives to improve retention in certain trades, but significant shortages of personnel remain in some areas. The Armed Forces are operating in challenging conditions and without all the equipment they need. With problems of undermanning continuing, there is a clear danger that the Armed Forces will not be capable of maintaining current commitments over the medium-term. The MoD's performance against its diversity targets is poor: the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force have failed to recruit sufficient people from ethnic minorities. Progress has been made in the number of women joining the Services but there are alarming levels of recorded sexual harassment. The MoD met its procurement targets, and performance against its value for money targets is good. New and potential losses reported in the MoD's Resource Accounts totalled some £143 million in 2005-06, a lower figure than the previous year.

This publication sets out the annual report and accounts of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2005-06, including a summary of performance against the Public Service Agreement (PSA) objectives and targets. The second section of the report contains the consolidated departmental resource accounts for 2005-06.

This report examines the administration, expenditure, activities and achievements of the MoD during the 2008-09 financial year, as detailed in the Ministry of Defence annual report and accounts 2008-09 (ISBN 9780102962239). It continues a series of inquiries and, indeed, the Committee sees it as cause for concern that the NAO found the need to qualify the MoD's resource accounts for the third consecutive year. Whilst it is acknowledged that capability in theatre must be the Department's first concern, failing to maintain accurate and full information on personnel and to keep track of assets has the potential to threaten the long-term capability of the Department, including operational capability.

Defence Estates is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence. This title contains the annual report and accounts for 2006/2007.