Faced with an unaffordable programme, we questioned the Department’s ability to achieve value for money from its equipment expenditure. We have seen many examples of the Department not buying the quantity of kit or the number of capabilities that it originally intended to buy; such as Typhoons or destroyers.74 The Department acknowledged that, historically, it has bought capabilities with sophisticated rather than utilitarian specifications, although it pointed to the Type 31 acquisition as a...

Faced with an unaffordable programme, we questioned the Department’s ability to achieve value for money from its equipment expenditure. We have seen many examples of the Department not buying the quantity of kit or the number of capabilities that it originally intended to buy; such as Typhoons or destroyers.74 The Department acknowledged that, historically, it has bought capabilities with sophisticated rather than utilitarian specifications, although it pointed to the Type 31 acquisition as an example of purchasing a more flexible capability.75 It also acknowledged that in newer domains, such as cyber and space, its procurement procedures are Type: conclusion | Number: 26 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: 3.3 Since the Committee's report, the department published the Defence Command Paper which sets out new policy aims and the capability decisions that were underpinned by the additional £16.5 billion investment from the 2020 Spending Review. The department h