Delivering Security in a Changing World:
Future Capabilities

Personal message from the Permanent Under Secretary, Sir Kevin Tebbit, to MOD civil servants

On 12 July the Chancellor announced the budget settlement for Defence for the three years up to 2007/8: another real terms increase in our budget. Including allowance for inflation, the budget will grow by £3.7 billion by 2007/8 compared with today.

Today the Secretary of State followed this up by announcing the most wide-ranging transformation package for the Armed Forces and how they are supported since the 1998 Strategic Defence Review. I believe this is very significant and positive news for Defence, as does the Chief of Defence Staff. For an explanation of the changes we are making and why, I encourage you to look at the supplement to the Defence White Paper that has been published today. There are reductions. But the threats themselves are changing. And although there will be fewer platforms in some areas, our investment in technology will make our Armed Forces more capable in the future than they are today, and more relevant to the threats and challenges they are likely to face in an unpredictable world.

What the announcement represents is a shift toward so-called ‘effects based’ warfare. That means focusing on the impact our Armed Forces can deliver rather than the number of systems involved. Since fewer ships, tanks and aircraft can deliver the effects we require, we will need fewer people – Service and civilian - to man and support them, and fewer bases. This is one reason why there will be some reductions in both military and civilian numbers between now and 2008.

The reduction in numbers will also come from the continuing modernisation and adaption of efficient working practices in the business side of Defence. In other words, getting the most we can out of every pound spent on Defence. The Chancellor announced last week the outcome of the Gershon and Lyons reviews of public sector efficiency, and of staff and establishments in London and the South East. Defence cannot be exempted from these changes. Some of the major initiatives involved in the MOD’s programme are:

• the Defence Logistics Transformation Programme, which aims to revolutionise the delivery of support to all three Services;
• the modernisation of military and civilian personnel management, which will deliver an enhanced service at lower cost;
• the Defence Information Infrastructure programme, which will provide a single modern information infrastructure across the Department;
• rationalisation of the Defence estate onto fewer, larger sites over the next 20 years;
• rationalisation and relocation of headquarters, including through collocation of some headquarters and a reduction in the number of MOD buildings in Central London to two.

You will be familiar with most of these initiatives. But I know that will not make it easier for those likely to be affected. In total there will be some 20,000 reductions split broadly equally between the Armed Services and the Civil Service. One of the most obvious questions you will all be asking is: "what will this mean for my job and me, personally?" The honest answer is that we cannot say yet precisely which individual posts – Service or civilian - will change, relocate or disappear. This will depend on detailed decisions which can only be taken as the initiatives proceed. I am determined that we should manage these changes as far as we can through normal turnover in people and jobs. We will also help people who want to develop new skills to equip themselves for new roles. On the Civil Service side, the Cabinet Office is establishing a "brokerage" service to share information about Departments’ plans. But it is clear that we will not be able to achieve everything simply through normal movements. We will not always be able to offer jobs in preferred locations, and I would be misleading you if I did not acknowledge that some redundancies will also be inevitable.

I know that for many people the possible personal impact this will be unsettling. I want to minimise this by keeping you informed as plans develop. Your senior managers will have received information packs giving more details of the proposed changes, and should be briefing you. The Cabinet Secretary has also written to all Civil Servants, and that message is available on the Defence Intranet. The Trade Unions have, of course, been informed and we will be consulting them as plans for implementation evolve.

Let me be clear. We know we have world class Armed Forces. Our civil servants are also second to none in my experience. The changes we are making are necessary to ensure that the country has the best possible defence posture that can be afforded. Thank you for your support.

Delivering Security in a Changing World: Future Capabilities »

Last Updated: 21 Jul 04