Failing Our Troops - Yet Again

Yet again this government and the MOD our failing our troops. New equipment that is not fit for purpose, spares not available, fixes that make things worse and just plain incompetence seem to be the order of the day for MOD Logistics. Apparently only 57% of requests are fulfilled on time.

The Telegraph reports that Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee which oversees the work of the NAO, said that he found it

"surprising" that the MoD still had not sorted out the problems with the supply chain.

He said that it was a "woeful state of affairs" when commanders lost confidence in a new vehicle like the Vector so quickly.

"Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving their all, but they don't always have what they need to get the job done," he said.

"We owe it to them to make sure they've got what they need, when they need it. The Ministry of Defence should not rely so much on the famed ability of our armed forces to make do."

Troops in Afghanistan face delays getting vital equipment, says NAO - Telegraph

GB PLC accounts in Disarray

The Times reports that the National Audit Office is refusing to sign GB Plc's accounts or at least the Treasury versions. What a surprise this is, as the Government attempts to put the 50bn bail out of Northern Rock anywhere but the debit side of the accounts. The Times says

Mr Darling is fighting a bruising battle with the National Audit Office (NAO), which is unhappy at the way that the nationalisation of Northern Rock is being treated in the Treasury’s books. The annual report from No 11 was published yesterday but, in a highly unusual departure from normal procedure, without the department’s resource accounts.

The problem is that if the Northern Rock bail out is put on the debit side the borrowing this government has to do will exceed all expectations by a significant amount.

Michael Fallon, the chairman of the Treasury Scrutiny Committee, said:

“This is a fresh humiliation for Alistair Darling. He has lost control over public finances. Now it looks as if he can’t get his department’s books past the auditors.”

This is just another in the long line of demonstrated incompetencies of this disintegrating government. Whilst Darling and Brown argue about 10p tax, CGT, VED, Fuel Duty etc the accounts and indeed the whole nation is slipping deeper and deeper into an economic quagmire.

Please, Please can we have a General Election and get rid of this shambles.


National Audit Office rejects Treasury accounts - Times Online

MoD accused of Chinook 'cock-up'

This is not a new story but the National Audit Office report is due out in public today on the £422m waste of money that are 8 Chinook Mk3 helicopters that have never seen active service despite being ordered in 1995. In 2004, an NAO report described the purchase as

"one of the worst examples of equipment procurement"

it had seen.

It is worth remembering that these 8 Chinooks (now being converted back to Mk2's) are amongst the 14 helicopters that were promised as additional support for our Troops in Iraq/Afghanistan by the current Labour Government in 2007. These are not now due in service until late 2009/10, which based upon the prior history is perhaps a little bit of wishful thinking. A written ministerial Statement on May 20th 2008 has more details.

For a good discussion on the problems and issues see here.

Also worth looking here to see what helicopters we have available for use in the Forward Fleet. This shows that only roughly 60% of helicopters are available for active use. Table is produced below.

Helicopter Type	Departmental total (total fleet)	Number available (forward fleet)	Number current and qualified pilots
Chinook	48	29	109
Merlin	70	41	108
Puma	45	34	95
Sea King	135	69	223

For the purposes of MOD reporting, the definition used for the number of helicopters available for use is the number in the Forward Fleet. This figure excludes any aircraft undergoing programmed upgrades, major repair or awaiting disposal.

BBC NEWS | UK | MoD accused of Chinook 'cock-up'