The MOD must be held accountable for waste

sir – Many MPS have argued that the Government should increase defence spending (“Shapps wants 3pc of GDP spent on defence”, report, March 14). I applaud their motives, but before any more funds are given to the Ministry of Defence, its wastefulness and incompetence should be addressed.

We have two aircraft carriers that cost more than £6billion instead of the predicted £4billion. They can only operate the F-35B jet because the MOD inexplicably decided not to fit a catapult and arrester wire system. The F-35B is the most expensive and least capable of the F-35 variants.

More than £4billion has been committed to the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle, which has unacceptable noise and vibration levels and has yet to be fully delivered.

We used to have the finest pilottraining system in the world, but the MOD decided to contractorise it. It is now unable to train enough pilots to maintain our front-line strength, so it has to send students overseas to be trained at a cost of yet more millions.

Two factors perpetuate the problem. The first is that no-one in senior positions is ever held to account for the waste. The MOD currently has a £16.9billion spending gap, yet the individuals that allowed this gap to appear remain in post.

The second problem is that parliamentary oversight committees appear powerless to deal with the waste, even when it is clearly identified. In recent years the National Audit Office has found waste and inefficiency in defence spending running to hundreds of millions of pounds. The Public Accounts Committee and Defence Committee have instigated inquiries that have confirmed the waste – yet have done nothing to remedy the situation. What, then, is their purpose?

Experience shows that, unless the MOD is reformed and proper oversight exercised, increasing defence spending will be a case of pouring good money after bad.

Wg Cdr Stephen Orwell (retd) York