01 Feb 23. Public Accounts Committee House of Commons.
Time for MoD to fundamentally change the way it operates, says PAC.
– Ministry must quickly demonstrate new urgency and realism
– MoD has struggled to bring digital defence systems into modern era for years
– Two critical IT projects now rated unachievable
The Ministry of Defence must fundamentally change the way it operates to implement its new digital strategy at the necessary pace and scale, but still does not have a delivery plan that will allow it to do this.
In a report today the Public Accounts Committee says the MoD has been struggling for years to deliver the major programmes necessary to replace over 2,000 systems and applications for 200,000 users, ranging from administrative and back-office IT to military platforms such as ships and satellites – much of it outdated legacy systems.
The rapid deployment and exploitation of new technology is now at the very heart of the defence of the realm, with the urgency of this challenge demonstrated by the current conflict in Ukraine. But of the defence IT projects large and critical enough to have their performance reported publicly by the Infrastructure Projects Authority, three had significant issues and two – the New Style IT Base and MODNet Evolve – were assessed as ‘unachievable’.
The Committee says MoD must make a ‘down payment’ on a whole new way of operating in its digital action plan, now expected in April 2023. It must display a genuine sense of urgency to address these serious issues, accompanied by a thorough, realistic and costed programme for doing so.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “The MoD as it currently operates is frankly not up to the task it faces. The scale and nature of the challenge of modern warfare is accelerating away from the Ministry, while it’s bogged down in critical projects that are years delayed and at risk of being obsolescent on delivery. Two of its major digital transformation projects have been written off as ‘unachievable’ by the oversight body. There is no world in which that is an acceptable situation at the heart of our national defence.”
Lead PAC Member Mark Francois MP said: “The war in Ukraine brutally illustrates why we need advanced digital capabilities now, rather than many years from now. What more will it take for MoD to step up and acknowledge the procurement weaknesses which the PAC has, quite literally, been highlighting for decades now? The time for the usual MoD platitudes is over – we now need to see MoD radically reform its procedures, to provide equipment – including crucial digital systems – in a timely and cost-effective manner, before it’s too late.”
PAC report conclusions and recommendations
- The Department accepts that it has not yet transformed itself to meet the challenges of modern warfare. The Department says digital technology is rapidly changing the character of warfare, but that it is not yet able to exploit new technologies at pace and scale. This is because it does not fully understand what data it has; old ‘legacy’ systems complicate tasks as routine as ordering a pair of boots; its processes are set up to procure conventional military equipment rather than software; and it lacks all the digital skills it needs. The Department has failed to solve these problems previously, but now recognises the need to adopt digital technology as a military imperative. The Department says it is starting to make progress tackling these challenges through its latest digital strategy and senior leadership’s support for it. However, we agree with the Department’s assessment that digital must urgently become a whole-of-Defence effort and that this will require significant cultural change. The Department aims to address this through its current ‘digital exploitation for Defence’ work.
Recommendation: Within six months, the Department should provide us with an update that sets out the outcomes of its ‘digital exploitation for Defence’ work, and how it will embed the cultural and organisational changes needed to ensure the whole Department prioritises digital transformation.
- Despite the urgency and ambition of its digital strategy, the Department does not yet have a delivery plan to measure and track progress. The Department’s digital strategy sets out how it wants to share and exploit data effectively for information advantage and develop a skilled and empowered digital function by 2025. It will be difficult for the Department to achieve this given the scale of activity across more than 90 digital projects in its portfolio, its large legacy IT estate, and wide-ranging specialist skills shortages. The National Audit Office (NAO) report that the Department’s digital strategy is consistent with good practice, but that it lacks a complete delivery plan to measure its progress. Although the Department has plans in place for individual projects, it accepts that it needs to bring these plans together to show how they add up to the outcomes the Department wants. The Department is now working on a delivery plan that does this, which it intends to publish in April 2023. This will give Parliament and the public much needed transparency about how to assess the Department’s performance towards the ambitious targets it has set itself for 2025.
Recommendation: In its update to us in six months, the Department should also set out how it is performing against its delivery plan, including what metrics it is using to track performance.
- The Department faces a considerable challenge to recruit the specialist digital skills that its strategy relies on. We have reported previously on the shortage of specialist digital skills in the marketplace and how many government departments are struggling to overcome this long-standing challenge. Indeed, the Department identifies getting the right skills as a key factor in whether it will succeed or fail to achieve its goals by 2025. The skills it needs are wide-ranging and include data analysis, cyber advisory, artificial intelligence, service manager and project delivery skills. The Department’s challenges include the limited pool of specialist skills in Corsham (where it bases its work on digital), its ability to compete in the market on pay, and waiting times of over 200 days on average for developed vetting security clearance. In response, the Department is trying to change how it recruits by rebranding itself as an innovative place to work with internal training opportunities, and by working differently with big technology companies and small and medium-size enterprises. The Department is positive about the impact this seems to be having and over the last 18 months reports meeting its target of recruiting 150 specialists. However, it wants to double this number next year, an objective that will be difficult to achieve.
Recommendation: In its update to us in six months, the Department should also set out how it has changed its approach to recruitment and what quantified effect this has had.
- The Department is struggling to deliver its largest, most transformational digital programmes. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s (IPA’s) most recent public reporting from March 2022 shows three of the Department’s major digital programmes have significant issues (‘amber’) and two are unachievable (‘red’). These are the Department’s most complex and transformational digital programmes, which it needs to get right if its strategy is to succeed. The Department accepts its performance up to now is worrying and that it needs to up-skill staff and think differently about processes and risk. In particular, the Department wants a more diverse mix of experience in its digital project delivery teams. By bringing in different skills and ways of thinking from industry, it hopes to become more confident at working in agile ways more appropriate to developing software. Although the Department recently intervened to pause its now red-rated Next Generation Core Networks programme, it still needs to get quicker at stopping and improving failing digital programmes. The Department has made some progress on the basics such as rolling out laptops and video conferencing in response to COVID-19. However, we are concerned by the continued lack of improvement in IPA assessments of the Department’s major digital programmes.
Recommendations:
- a) In its update to us in six months, the Department should also explain the actions it has taken to improve its performance in delivering major digital programmes.
- b) When the Infrastructure and Projects Authority publishes its Annual Report in 2023, the Department should provide us with the latest delivery confidence ratings for its digital major programmes and explain how and why they have changed.
- The Department’s budget is under considerable pressure, and this may make some planned, future digital activity unaffordable. As inflation rises, the purchasing power of the Department’s existing budget falls. The Department is starting to see pressure build on its pay settlements and in the cost of raw materials, meaning it may be hard to deliver its digital strategy as originally planned. The Department’s longer-term funding position will only become clearer following the refresh of the Integrated Review in 2023. In addition to its military importance, the Department is also turning to digital technology to deliver administrative efficiencies. The Department’s target is to make £1.4 billion of cash savings from digital technology by 2032-33 and it is confident it will achieve this. However, the Department says it will no longer compromise on the funding programmes needed to keep systems updated over their lifetimes, to ensure that the issues it faces with its current legacy estate do not reoccur. It will take time and commitment for this, and existing efforts to upgrade existing legacy systems and data, to make a difference. The Department says that because digital transformation is a top priority that it will try to protect funding for its digital portfolio. However, it will need to stick to this approach for many years in what is likely to be a challenging budgetary position.
Recommendation: Following the next update to the Integrated Review, the Department should write to us explaining whether planned and actual spend on digital has changed and whether it has enough funding to deliver the strategy.
- The Department is not yet able to share and exploit data across the Armed Forces and with partners effectively enough. Recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine show the importance of responding in a nationally and internationally integrated way. As the character of warfare changes, the Department needs to better integrate its operations and increase its partnering with other government departments, industry, academia and international allies. This was starkly illustrated by the Chief Information Officer admitting digital technology could be a limiting factor in the optional operation of Ajax and Morpheus. How the Department will update its digital systems fast enough so that the operational capacity of any pieces of equipment will not be hampered by the lack of digital systems remains unclear. It is making progress toward this by building a common architecture and set of rules that the whole Department must follow. This could support working more closely with partners and sharing data securely, including at higher security classifications. However, the Department has not yet catalogued all its data and adoption of these common standards is at an early stage. The Department also must work in hostile environments including, for example, at sea with limited connectivity, or where adversaries may be trying to undermine its security or effectiveness. The Department estimates that currently 80% of its effort is on the fundamental technology, people and processes it needs to share data effectively. By 2025, the Department wants 80% of its effort to be on exploiting this data for benefit. For example, the Department is starting to gather data on equipment and people automatically for military planners to better assess its readiness to respond.
Recommendation: The Department should set out in its April 2023 update to the digital strategy, how it will measure its progress in creating the ‘backbone’ and track its balance of effort between data enablers and data exploitation.
BATTLESPACE Comment: At last some sense form the PAC. BATTLESPACE has been advocating the creation of a digital backbone for years which will enable the users and equipment to plug in seamlessly to a common open architecture system.
30 Jan 23. Chief of the Air Staff questioned by Defence Committee. On Wednesday 1 February, at 14.30, the Defence Committee held an oral evidence session examining the work of the Chief of the Air Staff. The Committee will hear evidence from Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston and Air Marshal Richard Knighton KCB, Deputy Commander Capability and People.
In this session, the Committee will explore the work of the Chief of the Air Staff. The session will likely cover topics such as delays to flying training and allegations of unlawful discrimination within the pilot training selection process. The Committee may also consider the recruitment of ex-RAF pilots to train the Chinese air force. The session is also likely to cover investigations into unacceptable behaviours within the Red Arrows team.
Evidence from this session may help to inform the Committee’s inquiry into Aviation procurement.
14.30:
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston KCB CBE ADC, Chief of the Air Staff
- Air Marshal Richard Knighton KCB, Deputy Commander Capability and People, RAF
30 Jan 23. Progress on shipbuilding programmes examined by Defence Committee. On Tuesday 31 January, at 14.30, the Defence Committee held an evidence session on the recent progress on major shipbuilding programmes, hearing from the Senior Responsible Owners of each programme.
This session will assess the last year of progress on the Type 26, Type 31 and Fleet Solid Support programmes. The session may explore what has been done to address the impacts of delays to HMS Glasgow on the Type 26 frigate programme and the UK’s anti-submarine warfare capability. The Committee may also discuss the procurement process for the Fleet Solid Support Ships and the contract recently signed with Team Resolute.
In response to the Defence Committee’s report “We’re going to need a bigger Navy”, the Government accepted the recommendation to provide annual reports and updates to the Committee on shipbuilding programmes. This is the first of these evidence sessions, hearing from the Senior Responsible Owners of each shipbuilding programme.
14.30:
- Rear Admiral Paul Marshall CBE – SRO Type 31 Frigate and Fleet Solid Support Ship Programmes
- Commodore Stephen Roberts – SRO Type 26 Frigate Programme
House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Question for Ministry of Defence
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Conservative
Bournemouth East
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the Army’s operational capability during the upgrade and replacement periods for (a) Warrior and (b) Challenger.
Answer
Alex Chalk
Conservative
Cheltenham
Commons
Answered on 2 February 2023
Current capabilities, including Warrior and Challenger 2, will remain effective until new concepts and capabilities are introduced into service throughout the decade, ensuring the Army can continue to meet its operational commitments.
Challenger Tanks
Question for Ministry of Defence
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Conservative
Bournemouth East
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his plans are for the future of the Challenger 2 tanks in service that will not be upgraded to Challenger 3.
Answer
Alex Chalk
Conservative
Cheltenham
Commons
Answered on 2 February 2023
A decision on what will happen to the remaining Challenger 2 platforms is currently under review.
HMS Prince of Wales: Repairs and Maintenance
Question for Ministry of Defence
Mr Mark Francois
Conservative
Rayleigh and Wickford
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the propulsion defect affecting HMS Prince of Wales is; and when he expects it to be fixed.
Answer
Alex Chalk
Conservative
Cheltenham
Commons
Answered on: 1 February 2023
In September 2022, HMS PRINCE OF WALES suffered a starboard shaft coupling failure. During the investigation into the cause of the defect, an issue was also identified with HMS PRINCE OF WALES port shaft, and to prevent a similar defect occurring, rectification of this issue is expected to be completed before she commences her operational programme, as planned, in Autumn 2023. The defects with HMS PRINCE OF WALES shafts are not believed to be a Class issue and HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH continues to undertake Strike Carrier duties until 2024 when HMS PRINCE OF WALES will take over as Very High Readiness Strike Carrier.
Challenger Tanks
Question for Ministry of Defence
Mr Mark Francois
Conservative
Rayleigh and Wickford
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Statement of 16 January 2023 on Ukraine Update. Official Report column 36, how many Challenger 2 tanks he plans to upgrade to Challenger 3.
Answer
Alex Chalk
Conservative
Cheltenham
Commons
Answered on 1 February 2023
The number of Challenger 3 remains under review to ensure the Army’s Main Battle Tank fleet is sufficient to meet Defence’s needs, in line with the Defence Secretary’s statement on 16 January 2023.
Challenger Tanks
Question for Ministry of Defence
Mr Kevan Jones
Labour
North Durham
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Challenger 2 tanks will be bought to a state of high-readiness in the next 24 months.
Answer
Alex Chalk
Conservative
Cheltenham
Commons
Answered on 31 January 2023
As announced by the Secretary of State on 16 January 2023, a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks will be brought to higher readiness in place of the squadron sent to Ukraine.
The Army continually reviews the readiness of its equipment; however, it would be inappropriate to comment further due to the potential impact on security and operational effectiveness.
Ukraine: Tanks
Question for Ministry of Defence
Sarah Olney
Liberal Democrat
Richmond Park
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the EU on supplying tanks to Ukraine.
Answer
Mr Ben Wallace
Conservative
Wyre and Preston North
Commons
Answered on 31 January 2023
The UK has led the way providing NATO Main Battle Tanks to Ukraine. Earlier this month I announced our donation of a squadron of Challengers, before co-hosting supportive allies in Estonia and attending the Ramstein conference where I met with my new German counterpart. Since then Germany, Poland, Spain, Canada, Norway, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands have confirmed they will send Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
We are also ensuring the Ukrainians receive logistical support and training to use them effectively, with the first crews already training in the UK.