Ministry of Defence Supplementary Estimate 2011-12: report published
21 May 2012
The Defence Committee publishes its Report on the Ministry of Defence Supplementary Estimate 2011-12. The Committee notes that the MoD requested an additional 8.6 per cent for operations from the Treasury bringing the total additional expenditure on Afghanistan, Libya and the Wider Gulf to some £4.5 billion with the additional cost for Libya being some £247 million.
The implementation of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has resulted in further write-offs of assets. The MoD requested an additional £2 billion (non-cash resource) to cover these write-offs and other write-offs and impairments resulting from work to improve its data on stock and other assets. The Committee believes that the MoD should by now have a greater understanding of the financial implications of the SDSR.
The Supplementary Estimates for 2011-12 were laid before Parliament on 8 February 2012 and the House was asked to approve them on 28 February 2012. Chair of the Defence Committee, Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP, says
"It is unreasonable to expect Select Committees and Parliament to scrutinise the Supplementary Estimates in less than three weeks. We have asked the Treasury and other Government Departments to devise a better timetable allowing greater time for Parliamentary scrutiny.”