ANNEX
1. The Government welcomes the opportunity to
respond to the Committee's report on the Ministry of Defence Annual
Reporting Cycle, which focussed on some of the issues raised in
the 1999 Defence White Paper, the 1998/99 Departmental Performance
Report, the 1999/00 Expenditure Plans and the 1999 Departmental
Investment Strategy. The Government has considered carefully the
Committee's report and is disappointed that it did not adequately
acknowledge the outstanding achievements of the Armed Forces over
the past year in operations and the progress that has been made
in implementing the Strategic Defence Review.
2. This memorandum sets out below the Government's
Response to each of the main points of the Committee's report,
broadly in the order in which they were raised.
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