MoD Response to Defence Committee Report on Ministry of Defence Performance

UK Ministry of Defence, The Defence Committee's report into the Ministry of Defence's Annual Report and Accounts was published today and recognises that there is much of which the MoD and the Armed Forces can be proud. The report was welcomed by Defence Secretary, John Reid. 
 
Mr Reid said that the MoD would respond formally to the Select Committee's report in due course. However, in response to some of the specific findings of the report, Mr Reid said: 
 
“I welcome the Chairman's Assessment that there is much of which the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces can be proud. The MoD's report shows that we delivered against almost all of our Spending Review 2002 PSA targets. 
 
“The report rightly points to the pressures on our people. I acknowledge the great debt we owe them in sustaining the high level of activity in recent years and in delivering everything that we ask of them.”  
 
Background Notes and Information:
 
1. The MoD published its Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05 on 28 October 2005. 
 
2. The MOD, like all Government Departments, reports its past performance and future spending plans to Parliament on an annual basis. The Annual Report and Accounts combine both the Secretary of State's account of the Department's overall performance and the Departmental Resource Accounts, for the previous year. 
 
3. The National Audit Office approved MOD's accounts without qualification, for the second year running. This shows the Department is firmly in charge of its finances. 
 
4. The Report was published last October because of the time it takes to produce and audit our accounts and the obligation only to publish them while Parliament is sitting. The Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05 was substantively completed and cleared by the National Audit Office in August 2005, but since there was no September session of Parliament it was not possible to publish before Parliament returned in October. We expect this year to publish the Annual Report and Accounts 2005-06 before the summer recess.