Government Response to Joint Committee's first Report of 2014-15

• Report: The work of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in 2013-14: Government response to the First Report of the Committee, Session 2013-14 (HTML)
• Report: The work of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in 2013-14: Government response to the First Report of the Committee, Session 2013-14 (PDF 648 KB)
• The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy

The Committee’s report raised concerns about the lack of planning for the next National Security Strategy (NSS), which is due for publication in 2015.

The Committee has asked the Government to produce a radically different NSS, tackling the big (and politically difficult) questions and which will guide decisions going forward. It said this should cover energy security and domestic resilience, as well as foreign policy and defence, and criticised as unrealistic the Government’s stated policy expectation of no shrinkage in the UK’s international influence.

Quote from the Chair

The Chair of the Committee, Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP said:

"The Government’s response to our report says that it has noted our recommendations, but I am afraid that there is little sign that the Government has really taken on board the need to put some serious effort into planning for the next National Security Strategy and to engage experts from outside Government in its development. I fear that — just as in 2010 — the next NSS will be cobbled together at the last minute after the Election, as an adjunct to the Spending Review, rather than guiding the incoming Government’s decisions on spending priorities. 

In the run up to the Election it is inevitable that the political parties will be focusing on their different policy priorities, but — when it comes to national security — there are strong arguments for identifying where there is common cause. 

Over the next few months, we plan to address some of the issues we think should be covered by the next NSS, on a cross-party basis, consulting outside experts and inviting views from the public."

The Government’s response is published as the The work of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in 2013–14: Government response to the First Report of the Committee, Session 2013–14

The Committee’s report to which the Government is responding is the First Report of Session 2013–14: The work of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in 2013–14

Further information

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