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  annual report and accounts 2002-03

Modernising Defence

Objective:

To modernise Defence to meet future military requirements.

Performance Measure:
  1. Progress of the Defence Change Programme.
Performance Assessment:
  1. All major projects in the Defence Change Programme are on track.

On-going PSA targets are in italics. See Annex B for a complete table.

Summary

174.  Work on Defence modernisation continued throughout the year, given greater coherence and strategic emphasis by the creation of the Defence Change Programme. Its key elements are the Defence Information Strategy, the Head Office Modern Environment programme, Joint Personnel Administration, the Defence Logistics Organisation Change Programme, and the modernisation of estates services. Progress was made on all these during the year. In particular the Defence Information Infrastructure Programme passed several major project milestones, and refurbishment of the MOD's Main Building in Whitehall was ahead of schedule. The Department also further developed delivery of services electronically, and worked with other Government departments on a number of major programmes to ensure a joined-up approach across Government.

Defence Change Programme

175.  The Defence Change Programme pulled together the top forty change initiatives in Defence into a consistent programme aligned with the Department's key strategic priorities. Each initiative was tested against common criteria to make sure it will deliver firm benefits and that there is clear senior ownership. Delivery is driven by the Change Delivery Group, led by the Secretary of State, which ensures that each initiative has good governance arrangements and a skilled and experienced project team. The Senior Responsible Owners of the key change initiatives also meet collectively as the Defence Change Programme Board to manage the Defence Change Programme, direct the priorities for the Change Delivery Group, and seek out additional initiatives to incorporate into the Programme. The Board will also manage projects approved by Treasury for funding through the £578M Defence Modernisation Fund, secured through Spending Review 2002. The Defence Modernisation Fund was established to ensure that modernisation in Logistics and Defence Information Infrastructure was delivered and achieved savings during the spending period. This new approach to delivering change within the Department continues to develop. It applies Office of Government Commerce best practice guidance on large Government projects, and will deliver a complex and demanding programme.

Defence Information Strategy

176.  The Defence Information Strategy programme aims to ensure that the information needs of Defence are met in a coherent, efficient and effective manner. Good progress has been made. A key element is the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) programme. The DII's Initial Gate Business Case was approved in July 2002, enabling its entry into Assessment. This is now underway. The next key milestone, Ministerial approval of the DII Procurement Strategy, was reached at the end of March 2003. DII remains on track for Main Gate approval in mid-2004 and contract let in early 2005.

177.  In July 2003, Treasury approval was given for the Defence Modernisation Fund to support, in part, the procurement of DII Head Office (DII(HO)). This will enable the implementation of the system in preparation for the reoccupation of Main Building (see HOME, below). DII(HO) will provide Head Office with the next generation of Information and Communication Technology, able to access all information services required, from the Internet to highly classified material, as well as video-streaming TV channels.

Head Office Modern Environment (HOME)

178.  The HOME programme is a comprehensive modernisation package using the redevelopment of MOD's Main Building as a catalyst for greater organisational and cultural change. As well as the refurbishment of the Main Building to transform it from a structure with a closed, cellular layout to open-plan, HOME involves a more streamlined organisation, and introducing the new Defence Information Infrastructure technology and improved working practices. It aims to make the MOD Head Office a better place to work and enable it to provide more effective support and leadership for the UK Defence capability. Only those functions that have to be carried out centrally will remain in the Head Office. Around 600 posts will be moved out (including more than 300 staff who had been selected for either early retirement or severance). Better processes and working practices are being developed to enable us to work more flexibly, efficiently and effectively. Construction work on Main Building continued throughout the year and is progressing ahead of schedule.

Improved Planning Process

179.  A team has been set up to look at how we can improve our budgeting and planning processes. The aim is to provide better support to the Defence Management Board and other decision makers in taking strategic balance-of-investment decisions in the short and longer term.
Construction work on MOD's Main Building is progressing ahead of schedule.
Construction work on MOD's Main Building is progressing ahead of schedule.

Joint Personnel Administration (JPA)

180.  JPA will provide the Department with radically improved management information about Service manpower. The project is progressing satisfactorily. In particular, good progress is being made on harmonisation and simplification of personnel policies and processes.

DLO Business Change Programme

181.  The Defence Logistics Organisation's change programme is a significant element of the overall Defence Change Programme. Details are set out in paragraphs 146-147 above.

Modernising Estates Delivery

182.  Modernising the delivery of the MOD's estate requirements is the final major element of the Defence Change Programme. Details are set out in paragraph 110 above.

Information Age Government

183.  The Department continued to increase the number of public services available electronically: 87% of appropriate services are now available online and the Department remained on course to achieve 100% by the target date of 2005. The volume of transactions conducted electronically increased rapidly throughout the year, as did the number of industrial trading partners committed to the process. By March 2003, 122 industrial trading partners had signed up on a proportion of their contracts. The Department remains committed to gaining significant benefits from implementing electronic purchasing.

Defence in the Wider Community

The role of the Services and the MOD is to defend the UK and its interests. But in so doing Defence has a major impact in the wider UK community. We provide employment, directly or indirectly, to over 500,000 people in the Armed Forces, the Defence Civil Service and Defence industry. We recruit and train about 25,000 new Service and 8,000 civilian personnel every year, and return a similar number to the civilian economy with a wide range of acquired skills and qualifications. Some 250,000 people have a Reserve liability, including over 45,000 volunteer Reserves. Over 250,000 veterans and their dependants receive pensions. There are over 130,000 cadets. Defence contracts are worth over £12Bn each year. The MOD owns or has access to land across the country from the Outer Hebrides to the centre of London, covering an overall area about the size of Cornwall. (Further details can be found in UK Defence Statistics 2003). Military ties and traditions are an important strand in the identity of many local communities. These wide ranging connections and responsibilities, together with the capabilities provided by the Armed Forces, mean that Defence makes an important contribution to the wider community over and above its main role. This essentially falls into two different categories: the direct use of Defence resources, particularly military personnel, to support non-Defence objectives (known as Military Aid to the Civil Authority, or MACA); and the contribution to the wider Government agenda.

Military Aid to the Civil Authority (MACA)

MACA embraces a very wide range of activities. It includes assistance in emergencies, such as maintenance of essential supplies and services in a national emergency (for instance, the provision of fire cover when negotiations between the Fire Brigades Union and the local government employers broke down - see paragraphs 29-31); short-term routine assistance to special projects of significant value to the civil community; and full time attachment of volunteers to social services (or similar organisations) for specific periods. It also includes support to the police in the performance of their duties, in particular to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (paragraph 32) and to the civil authorities in providing Home Security across the UK (paragraph 64), support to Customs and Excise on counter-drugs operations (paragraph 33), and such activity as provision of Bomb Disposal experts when needed (paragraph 28). Additionally, the Armed Forces provide the majority of the UK's search and rescue helicopter service and other assets when needed for civil search and rescue operations, as well as fisheries protection in British waters.

The Defence contribution to the wider Government agenda

Defence makes a major contribution to the Government's wider agenda well beyond the MOD's obligations as an employer and landowner. This includes:

  • supporting conflict prevention goals (paragraphs 58-61);
     
  • work on conservation and sustainable development (paragraph 148);
     
  • developing the Government's Strategy for Veterans (paragraph 165);
     
  • a wide range of other initiatives (paragraph 184) with other Departments and the wider community to take forward the Government's diversity and social responsibility objectives (paragraphs 94-99 and separate box), including individual volunteering of Service and MOD civilian personnel and programmes such as Skill Force in over 100 secondary schools; and
     
  • taking forward the Government's Defence Industrial Policy (paragraph 189) with the Department of Trade and Industry and with industry.

Joined-up Government

184.  In addition to the assistance routinely provided by the Services to Home Departments, such as search and rescue and fisheries protection, the Department continued to expand its work with other Government departments, devolved administrations and agencies. For example:

  • In partnership with the Department for Education and Skills, the Skill Force Initiative has doubled in size over the past year. Exclusions from schools involved have been reduced by 70% in the first two schemes, and attendance maintained at 90%.
     
  • With the Department for Trade and Industry, a new Defence Industrial Policy was launched in October 2002. It seeks to enhance the competitiveness of the UK Defence industry, maximising the economic benefit to the UK from Defence expenditure, while ensuring that the Armed Forces are provided with the equipment that they need.
     
  • We have signed a concordat with the Department of Health aimed at modernising the provision of medical support. This co-operation was put to the test during Operation TELIC, with Reception Arrangements for Military Patients (RAMP) working well.
     
  • We are working with the Department of Constitutional Affairs on more joined-up and customer-focused policy-making on advice and guidance for veterans.
     
  • The MOD worked with the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs on our approach to Sustainable Development.

185.  The Department is committed to ensuring the effect of its decisions on the regions is taken into account. We have already relocated a significant amount of Defence activity from London and the Southeast to the other regions, notably to the Southwest. We will further slim down our London Head Office by over 15% (see paragraph 178 above) and are working closely with the Lyons Review to identify opportunities to reduce our presence in the Southeast still further.

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Last Updated: 3 Dec 03