22/07/2010
MoD "in denial" over procurement

MoD officials have been "lying through their teeth" to cover up failings in major equipment procurment programmes, a senior member of the Defence Select Committee told a UKNDA meeting at the House of Commons.

Defence Management

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Ministry of Defence officials have been "lying through their teeth" to cover up failings in major equipment procurement programmes, according to a senior member of the defence select committee.

Labour MP Dai Havard was referring to a report produced by the defence select committee in March which said that some of the MoD's answers to committee questions had been "at best confused and unhelpful, and at worst deliberately obstructive".

"'Deliberately obstructive', that was the nicest it could get," said Havard. "They are lying through their teeth half the time for particular reasons.

"Finding the truth is difficult and they have to come out of that denial themselves. They have to get to find a way of breaking that cycle."

In the report, the committee said that the MoD had at times provided "misleading" evidence on the state of big equipment procurement projects.

During the committee's inquiry, the MoD said that it had reduced the overall equipment funding gap from £21 billion in 2008 to £6 billion in 2009, but could not explain how this had been achieved.

The MoD also claimed that it had reduced the number of Type 45 destroyers from 12 to six after gaining a "better understanding of the capabilities of the ship".

At the time, committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: "The defence committee cannot fulfil its scrutiny role for Parliament if the MoD refuses to provide such information about its activities."

Havard, who has been a member of the defence committee for seven years, made the comments during a panel discussion on the strategic defence review arranged by thinktank the Henry Jackson Society and the UK National Defence Association.

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