Ministry Of Defence
Some of you may have wondered whether this event would proceed this morning. Thank you for keeping the faith and being here.
All of us in Defence have a profound sense of the weight of responsibility in undertaking the tasks with which we are charged even in the most difficult of circumstances.
From a personal perspective I think the Prime Minister has shown enormous leadership on Ukraine which will be a lasting legacy and he has proved a good friend for defence. I wholly understand why he is now stepping down, it is the right decision, and I wish him well.
Now to Defence. We meet in historic times and I am delighted that the process of Nato ratification of Finnish and Swedish accession is underway with Canada the first to complete the process so far.
I have visited Finland on several occasions as Defence Minister especially in the run up to their HX competition.
I confess to being delighted yet bemused by being engaged in earnest debate on the differential performance of F35, Grippen and Eurofighter not just by the Finnish Government but by a Helsinki taxi driver and a wide array of Finnish citizens.
It transpired that a considerable number of the men and women on the Helsinki omnibus knew all about the munitions carriage and stealth in modern combat air, such is their personal focus on their nations defence and for good reason.
While debate of this nature in the United Kingdom is rather more muted, I learned early on in my role that a Defence Procurement Minister can rely on strong and informed debate via the medium of Twitter.
There is often complete agreement on Twitter than an issue must be aired if a less uniform view on how it should be concluded.
Underpinning all such debates, RUSI has remained supreme in offering detailed and considered views on defence. I have often said that our defence industry is a strategic national asset. Without comparing the two in terms of scale I have no doubt I can say the same of RUSI.
It has been a constant through a great deal of change. Including changes in Defence Procurement Ministers. In the two calendar years prior to my appointment in February 2020 no fewer than 5 Defence Procurement Ministers held office.
No wonder in the introductory call with my German counterpart he warmly welcomed me and I quote to the plushest ejector seat in UK Defence.
I feel today, two and half years in, the same excitement and determination I did on day one. It is an extraordinary role it is a privilege to serve and above all to have the opportunity to work with truly excellent and committed colleagues in and out of uniform.
Unlike my Commons Defence Ministerial colleagues who have all served their country on the front line of combat operations and done so with distinction, the nearest I have got to action was serving in the treasury during the financial crisis and the whips office during Brexit.
However, we are all at our strongest working in teams and I indebted to the huge support of the Defence Secretary who is doing an outstanding job and all my ministerial colleagues.
My 25 years of experience in business before entering parliament means I often start a debate on procurement from a different perspective but we invariably come to the same conclusion
We recognise Core skills.
Fundamental focus on the tasks we need to meet.
Ruthless prioritisation within budget.
Working with suppliers through partnership.
Creating and retaining the Skills base we need to deliver.
One learns early on that Defence Procurement isnt easy.
We are delivering Some of the most technically complicated, risky and costly procurements in Government.
Not my words but those of the NAO.
Whilst our national debates are not as active as those on the Helsinki omnibus, defence procurement can occasionally hit the news and, if I may share a secret with you, thats not hugely when projects are going well.
From some of the commentary, one could be forgiven for believing that every defence procurement is late and every project is over budget.
In point of fact nearly three quarters of DE&S projects have already delivered or are expected to hit their original P50 cost estimate. In a world dominated by covid and supply chain hold-ups, over half of DE&S projects have been or are expected to be on their P50 estimated delivery time and this audience is wise to the fact that by definition not all projects will come in within a P50 estimate.
In addition, since 2016 we have made 5.9 billion of independently assured efficiencies on our Equipment plan genuine improvements with the same output being delivered for lower cost.
The DPAG which was established through the Spending Round, has met regularly since has recognised a changed MOD with greater clarity and transparency determined to recognise and fix issues, not hide them.
However, and especially on delivery the overall position is of course not where we want it to be, there is room for huge improvement and I am determined that the reforms we are driving will deliver just that but this is a solid base from which to drive performance.
The reasons why we must get better are legion, but the pressing current is all too obvious.
Since 1989 our belief in what the collapse of the Berlin Wall presaged has dictated the size of not just our forces but has driven changes to the structure, capability and even the expectations that we place upon our entire Defence sector.
As the Secretary of State has said, the way weve been doing defence for the last three decades is no longer adequate for the threats we are facing today.
We thankfully got ahead of the game in recognising the changed world when the Prime Minister took the strong decision to invest an extra 24 billion in Defence in 2020.
And we are even more thankful that last Thursday the Prime Minister went one step further by making clear that the critical capabilities we are pursuing in defence from FCAS to AUKUS mean that we will reach 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade.
We need to ensure that not only will the equipment procured be deployed effectively by all our armed forces, including as vividly set out by the new CGS through Operation Mobilise. We need to ensure we deliver that equipment on time on budget and to the very best of our ability.
All of which brings me right back to procurement.
Given the scale of the task ahead an eye-catching route would be to seize the opportunity for a review.
I dare say this would immediately get plaudits and Defence would be praised for recognising historic issues and seeking external insight as to how we meet fresh challenges.
Except I dont think thats getting after the issues at all. I fear thats hiding from them. After all weve been round this buoy before, many times actually, weve had 13 reviews in one form or other of defence procurement in the last 30 years.
We know what happens. We have seen it in public and private sector alike. The self-absorption of the process. The inertia while its conducted. Good people getting frustrated. The less good eagerly awaiting a game of musical chairs when the distracting music finally stops.
In all the analysis I have seen, of international comparators, or different structural options here in the UK the one point that has stood out is that there is no nirvana.
Every model set up to deliver equipment, equipment which has never previously been created before but which may be needed in service for decades and which will depends on multiple untested linkages, will be vulnerable to the challenge of delivering those projects.
There is no single bullet. In the same way that our uniformed colleagues succeed by constant work, upskilling, agility and attention to detail we need to do the same.
We know what the challenges are.
We know what we need to do to overcome them.
Its often the small things that derail big projects. When the Apollo 13 mission was aborted the problem turned out to be something as small as damaged electrical wire insulation.
Sometimes you dont need to overhaul the whole system. You just need to fix the wiring.
And our approach to procurement requires a remorseless focus on getting the basics right.
First making the structure of what we do as clear and simple as possible, junking unnecessary bureaucracy and injecting flexibility and agility into our processes. We are doing just this through the Procurement Bill which is wending its way through the Lords now and is a cast iron exemplar of our commitment to ongoing sensible reform.
Secondly take skills. If our people are going to be working on the most sophisticated projects around, we are going need to make sure they are better trained, more experienced and have more time to dedicate to the task.
So thats what weve been doing.
Our Senior Responsible Officers for all our major projects are now required to complete the Infrastructure and Projects Authoritys Major Projects Leadership Academy.
Around 40% of major projects currently meet or exceed the 50% SRO time commitment, up from 23% previously and we are determined that this upward trajectory must continue.
We are encouraging commands to consider rank-ranged posts to enable SROs to be promoted within a project and also to align military SRO postings with key project milestones.
We are determined to create a broader bench of SROs, civilian and military, growing experience over time so that we have people able to better deliver for us in the years ahead.
And were investing in skills more broadly.
All of the most senior