ANNEX
GENERAL COMMENT
1. The overall findings of the subject report
are noted, and the Committee's qualified support for the decision
to merge the Military Survey and JARIC agencies (which was achieved
on 1 April 2000) is welcomed.
SPECIFIC COMMENT
2. In respect of specific Committee comment and
recommendations made in the report, the following response is
provided:-
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3. The Government is committed to open government
and the introduction of a Freedom of Information Act. Until that
Act is introduced, the Code of Practice on Access to Government
Information remains the principal guide to release of Government
information. This Guide sets a minimum standard for Government
openness, but as a matter of policy, staff take a positive approach
to the release of information and work on the presumption that
all information should be made available, unless it falls into
the category of information which is exempt from the commitments
to the Code.
4. In accordance with the HCDC's recommendation,
and guided by the Code of Practice, the MOD has re-assessed the
releasibility of evidence excluded form the HCDC report, and confirmed
that, in all cases, the decision to withold this information was
correct.
5. Most of the excluded information relates to
detail of Military Survey's and JARIC's cooperation arrangements
with the US. Whilst the fact that the UK has a general intelligence
relationship with the US is in the public domain, the detailed
nature of that relationship, particularly in relation to sources
of intelligence, is classified and cannot be openly disclosed.
To do so, would jeopardise that relationship and could lead to
those sources being denied to the UK.
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6. The MOD has firmly embraced the principles
of "smart" procurement and has introduced a number of
radical changes to enable better, faster and cheaper equipment
procurement.
7. The need to maintain good progress in procuring
the new geographic and imagery intelligence exploitation capabilities
under the Modernised Digital Geographic Information System (MDS)
and Phase 2 of JARIC's technology update is fully recognised as
a key driver to increasing DGIA outputs and facilitating integration
of processes across the new agency. This combined project was
one of the first to be managed under the new procurement procedures
and is progressing well. Industry is currently engaged in developing
technical options to meet the requirement for a planned "Main
Gate" approval in July of this year.
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8. The problem of overstretch in both front-line
and support areas was fully recognised during the MOD's Strategic
Defence Review. Since then, a number of MOD initiatives, on both
the service and civilian side, have been implemented to improve
the situation. The main focus for shaping change in the service
personnel area is to be the new Overarching Personnel Strategy,
which is currently being developed. On the civilian side, clear
priorities for action are also being developed under the separate
Civilian Personnel Management Strategy.
9. Within Military Survey and JARIC the report
refers to certain staffing difficulties in both organisations
but stresses the specific shortages and undermanning at JARIC,
caused by the increasing need for 24 hour working, and the difficulty
in recruiting and retaining specialist imagery analyst staff.
You will wish to note that measures have been taken in the past
year to resolve this problem, which include the allocation of
extra funding to support 24 hour working and a successful analyst
recruitment campaign which has filled most of the gaps at JARIC.
The DGIA will continue to review its manpower requirements and
organisational structure to ensure it is best placed to meet its
mission and objectives.
10. The report's reference to the failure of
the agencies to react to resource shortages in a similar way to
private sector organisations reflects the fact that neither Military
Survey nor JARIC are Trading Funds, and therefore, do not have
an opportunity to exercise the commercial freedoms the report
suggests. Both Chief Executives, however, have fully exercised
their agency flexibilities and delegations and taken a number
of steps in the past to prioritise work and adjust structures
to become more cost-effective and utilise resources more efficiently.
In fact, this re-structuring has identified that some staff savings
are achievable over the next two years, primarily at the middle
management level of the specialist Mapping and Charting occupational
group at Feltham and Tolworth.
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11. The possibility of collocating the DGIA business
units at some point in the future has not been discounted, but
any decision will be based on a full investment appraisal of the
options.
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12. Resource Accounting and Budgeting has now
been succesfully implemented across the department. The selection
of JARIC as an early implementor was made on the assumption that
this was a new Agency with a relatively small and discrete budget,
which would prove a good test site. In hindsight, the difficulties
experienced in running existing Agency accounts alongside the
new system coupled with staffing problems suggest that JARIC was
not the most appropriate site for this purpose.
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13. The report refers to the length of time taken
to reach a decision on agency merger and draws conclusions on
the effectiveness of service delivery by Military Survey and JARIC.
It should be stressed that early consideration of the Military
Survey/JARIC relationship (Defence Costs Study 18 in October 1994)
did not specifically recommend merger, but an organisational arrangement
whereby Military Survey might provide certain support services
to JARIC through a Service Level Agreement. Proper consideration
of merger did not take place until technical and business process
studies were initiated in 1997 and 1998 respectively. The final
study, which did not report until October 1998, concluded that
merger should be pursued to position the agency the better to
meet the future needs of customers, but recognised that the full
benefits from such a decision would not be fully realised until
new technologies and common processes were introduced into the
agency. Both Military Survey and JARIC have continued to provide
exceptional support to Defence during this period and have met
all of their performance Key Targets.
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14. The need for the MOD to take care, prior
to changing the status, or business boundaries, of an existing
agency is fully understood, and decisions of this type are only
taken after detailed business analysis and full consultation with
customers. Both processes were rigorously followed prior to the
decision to merge Military Survey and JARIC.
