Questions 30 and 35: Comments from Ministry
of Defence and Mr Don Touhig
Response to question 30 from the Ministry of
Defence:
Mr Touhig stated that: "The Report, Sir
Bill, accuses your department of masking the impact of other costs
increases on projects." The NAO Report agreed by the MOD
did not contain the word "mask".
Response to the Ministry of Defence's comment
from Mr Don Touhig:
The source of this remark was the Members brief
for the meeting, which stated: `By transferring money out of the
costs as reported in the Major Projects Report, the Department
is masking the impact of other cost increases on projects'.
Response to question 35 from the Ministry of
Defence:
Mr Touhig stated that: "The Report also
tells us that your department's poor performance and financial
management has necessitated an amount of—this exercise of
annual—this exercise of "juggling budgets" as
they described it." The NAO Report agreed by the MOD contained
no reference to "juggling budgets", "juggling"
or "juggle".
Response to the Ministry of Defence's comment
from Mr Don Touhig:
The source of this remark was the Members brief
for the meeting, which stated: `The Department's poor performance
on financial management has necessitated this now annual exercise
of juggling budgets'.
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