Committee insists on realistic national security plan

"Future Force 2020", the Government's intended shape of the Armed Forces from 2020, only considers the provision of the necessary resources as Government aspiration rather than policy.

The Committee calls on the Government to set out achievable military policy by taking resource constraints into account.

Additionally, the Committee is apprehensive about UK Armed Forces continually operating at the maximum level envisaged by the Defence Planning Assumptions. They are not convinced that this aspiration can be achieved by cooperation with allies given the challenges of aligning political with operational needs.

The Strategic Defence and Security Review identified seven military tasks and the Defence Planning Assumptions that underpin them. However, the Review fails to show how decisions such as those on the Aircraft Carriers and Nimrod MRA4 will lead to the Armed Forces being able to undertake those military tasks.

The Committee is concerned that the Government seems to have postponed the sensible aspiration of bringing commitments and resources into line, in that it has taken on the new commitment of Libya while reducing the resources available to Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The MoD must reform, and ensure substantially improved transparency and control over its finance and budgetary practices. When committing to undertake new operations the Government should state from the outset where that operation fits in the Defence Planning Assumptions and which of the military tasks it is meeting.

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