3 Managing the programme effectively
15. The Strategic Deterrent Programme Board, which
is responsible for coordinating delivery of the future deterrent
within the Department, is chaired by the Senior Responsible Owner.
The Senior Responsible Owner's responsibilities include establishing
the requirements for the future deterrent capability, leading
policy advice and allocating the budget for most elements of the
future submarine, Trident D5 missile life-extension and Atomic
Weapons Establishment facilities and skills investment programme.[23]
16. The Board is composed of senior Royal Navy officers
and civil servants, who are responsible for the principal projects
within the future deterrent programme.[24]
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and the
Treasury also attend the board, ensuring that those government
departments are also involved in decision-making. There is widespread
agreement that the Board includes the right people. Figure
2 shows the position of the Board in the context of the Ministry
of Defence's overall programme governance arrangements.[25]
17. To date, the Strategic Deterrent Programme Board
has not been required to make difficult decisions or trade-offs,
primarily because the programme has not reached the stage at which
key decisions would be needed.[26]
Given that the Senior Responsible Owner does not have direct line
management authority over the other members of the Board, it is
not clear how the Department can incentivise Board members to
deal with these key decisions in a cohesive manner when they have
conflicting priorities.
18. Although the Senior Responsible Owner is supported
by a full-time Director and supporting staff, his remains a part-time
appointment. The incumbent is also the third person to hold the
position since the start of the programme.[27]
The Senior Responsible Owner role still does not conform to the
Office of Government Commerce guidance, the importance of which
was emphasised in the Committee's Report on the Bowman programme,[28]
although the Department accepts that governance arrangements may
evolve and simplify as the programme progresses from concept to
delivery phases.[29]
19. The Programme Board does not have a mature performance
information system. At the beginning of the project the Board
received too much information with little data consistency. In
response, the Department created a performance measurement prototype
that the board are currently reviewing. The Department is confident
that a fully functional process will be in place by September
2009.[30]
Figure 2: The future deterrent programme governance arrangements
Source: Ministry of Defence
NOTE
Posts in the central box are members of the Strategic
Deterrent Programme Board. This figure is not intended to and
does not necessarily reflect normal line management relationships
20. The Department has not yet refined its White
Paper cost estimates. These estimates are therefore still not
robust enough to provide an accurate baseline against which to
measure progress and exercise budgetary control. The Department
is committed to delivering refined cost estimates by September
2009.[31] At this stage
the Department should have more information about each of the
designs, making it easier to allocate cost to the different estimates.[32]
21. The Department's Defence Industrial Strategy
emphasises the importance of maintaining submarine and nuclear
reactor building capability in the United Kingdom.[33]
Given that this sector is highly specialised and characterised
by monopoly suppliers, the Department faces a challenge in obtaining
value for money over the whole life of the programme. The Astute
and future deterrent programmes should however provide some continuity
of work and the Department is keen to use the leverage gained
through these programmes to encourage the submarine industry to
restructure, drive costs down and to be open and transparent about
cost.[34]
23 C&AG's Report, para 3.6 Back
24
C&AG's Report, para 3.8 Back
25
Qq 8, 51 Back
26
Qq 49-50 Back
27
Qq 8, 77-78 Back
28
Committee of Public Accounts, Fourteenth Report of Session 2006-07,
Ministry of Defence: Delivering digital tactical communications
through the Bowman CIP Programme, HC 346, para 1 Back
29
Q 9 Back
30
Q 56 Back
31
Q 10 Back
32
Q 69 Back
33
Defence Industrial Strategy, Cm 6697, December 2005 Back
34
Q 84 Back
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