Letter to the Chairman from the Secretary
of State for Defence on the presentation of the Annual Reporting
Cycle
The natural break caused by the Strategic Defence
Review has enabled us to look again at the way in which we present
information to Parliament and to the public, and to introduce
a number of changes which I believe will improve significantly
our approach to this important aspect of defence business. In
doing so, we are also bringing the MOD into line with the rest
of Government.
In the past, the Statement on the Defence Estimates
was both a backward and forward looking document. As a result,
it performed neither function entirely successfully. Moreover,
its title was no longer an accurate description of its purpose.
For 1999, the MOD will therefore produce the
following documents:
— the Departmental report "MOD:
the Government's Expenditure Plans", to be published within
three weeks of the Budget;
— a Defence White Paper, which will
be a forward-looking policy document, aimed at Parliament and
other informed defence audiences and looking at current and emerging
issues. This will be published in late May, to enable us to take
account of NATO's Washington Summit;
— a Departmental Performance Report,
along the lines of the expanded report published in November 1998
(CM 4170), which will assess the MOD's activities over the past
year and will contain most of the factual information published
previously in the Statement on the Defence Estimates. This will
be published in the autumn of 1999.
From 2000 onwards, my aim is to combine the
White Paper and the "Spring Pamphlet", which will be
published in March or April.
This new approach to the White Paper will enable
us to give policy issues a deeper and more thoughtful treatment
than has been possible in past Statements on the Defence Estimates.
My hope is that, taken in conjunction with the expanded Departmental
Performance Report, it will contribute to a much improved awareness
and understanding of defence policy and its implementation.
I am certain that these changes will help the
Committee in its work in 1999 and beyond.
5 February 1999
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