Defence Acquisition (Independent Review)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 3:57 pm on 19 October 2009.

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Photo of John Reid John Reid Labour, Airdrie and Shotts 3:57, 19 October 2009

The issue is not just about changes in military requirements, is it? It is about technological advances, too. The military want the latest and the best. The latest and the best, as the Secretary of State said, is at the leading edge of technology; and the leading edge of technology now changes every 18 months, not 18 years, therefore the military re-specify. May I suggest to the Secretary of State that it is good to distance the procurement process from immediate demands, to ask the military to shape and identify the final product that it wants and then to hand the product over to a contractual basis that is as separate from the Ministry of Defence as it possibly can be?