ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR SESSION
1999-2000
CONCLUSION
68. Of the 16 objectives we set ourselves at the
beginning of the 1999-2000 Session, we assess ourselves to have
achieved (at least in part) or overshot our target on 12.[55]
Two were not applicable in this session. One was partially achieved
and one not achieved.
Achievement against objectives
| NO. | SUBJECT
| ACTION | TIMING
| OUTTURN |
| 1 | Annual Reporting Cycle: Expenditure Plans; Investment Strategy; White Paper; Performance Report; Appropriation Accounts
| To take evidence and report in time for debate
| On publication | Achieved . See Second Report of this Session
|
| 2 | Chiefs of Staff
| To meet each informally
| Once a year (at least)
| Not achieved |
| 3 | Front line forces
| To visit two or three units
| Annually | Achieved[56]
|
| 4 | Support units
| To visit two or three units
| Every 18 months | Achieved in part[57]
|
| 5 | Statutory Instruments
| To consider significant ones and take oral evidence when appropriate
| On laying | N/A
|
| 6 | Public appointments
| To consider significant ones and take oral evidence when appropriate
| As they occur | Achieved[58]
|
| 7 | British forces on operations or major exercises
| To visit (2/3 days) |
Once a year | Achieved[59]
|
| 8 | Gulf War illnesses
| To monitor developments, take evidence and report
| Once a year/ as events require
| Achieved[60]
|
| 9 | Northern Ireland
| To visit (3/4 days) |
Once every two years | Achieved[61]
|
| 10 | Defence agencies
| To take oral evidence on annual report or within wider inquiry
| Two agencies per year |
Achieved[62]
|
| 11 | Treaties
| To examine before ratification
| When presented to Parliament
| Achieved[63]
|
| 12 | Defence Committees of major European countries
| To meet/visit | Once every two years for France, Germany, Russia & Italy
| Achieved[64]
|
| 13 | USA Congressional Committees in the field of national security
| To meet/visit | Once a year (possibly within NAA)
| N/A[65]
|
| 14 | Major procurement projects
| To monitor developments and seek regular written or oral evidence
| Annually | Achieved[66]
|
| 15 | Resource Accounting and Budgeting
| To monitor MoD's progress and take part in the choice of performance measures
| By the end of the Parliament
| Achieved, work continues[67]
|
| 16 | Defence manufacturers
| To visit/be briefed by UK defence manufacturers
| One a year | Achieved[68]
|
We have re-adopted these objectives, with some minor
variations, for the current session.
69. The overarching objective of the Committee is
to improve our scrutiny of the MoD's work in order to hold the
government more effectively to account on behalf of Parliament
and those who elect us. In our exchanges with Ministers and officials,
we are constantly pressing for better quality information about
the outputs of the department rather than quantitative descriptions
of its activity. Inevitably, much of the information we have given
in this account of our own work is about measures of activity.
Our principal output is our reports, and we must leave it to others
to judge their quality—in other words the degree to which
they represent an effective exercise of Parliament's scrutiny
function.
70. However, the resources and powers of the select
committees of the House remain inadequate for the work they are
required to do. We wholeheartedly support the efforts of the Liaison
Committee to push forward its agenda for change and modernisation,
and hope that in the next Parliament we will begin to see definite
advances in these areas.
55 9 in 1998-99 Back
56 Kosovo,
and the Gulf Back
57 Falkland
Islands, and the Gulf Back
58 See
Sixth Report, Session 1999-2000 Back
59 Kosovo
visited November 1999 Back
60 See
Seventh Report, Session 1999-2000 Back
61 Visited
in June 2000 Back
62 DERA,
DPA, 3 Service Training and Recruitment Agencies Back
63 See
First and Twelfth Reports, Session 1999-2000 Back
64 Have
received visits from the Norwegian, Polish, Czech, Estonian and
Dutch Defence Committees in this Session Back
65 Washington
last visited in October 1999, no visit proposed in 2000 because
of presidential election Back
66 See
Tenth Report, Session 1999-2000 Back
67 See
Second Report, Session 1999-2000 Back
68 GKN
Westland Back
| 
