1.6 We consulted widely to understand the challenges Defence faces and in developing our response to them. A summary of those outside the Department we consulted is at Annex B. We are very grateful to everyone who gave us their time.
1.7 We started by considering the purpose of the MOD, on the basis that form should follow function. We looked at how the organisation of the MOD has developed over the past century and why. We then analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the current model, the problems it faces and their underlying causes. We also looked at what lessons could be drawn from other organisations within the Defence, public and private sectors. We then developed a range of options to address the problems and best deliver the Department's purpose, before deciding on the recommendations that follow. Finally, we looked at the lessons to be learned from past efforts to reform the MOD, and have drawn on those lessons in our recommendations on implementation.
1.8 On the MOD's purpose, our starting points were the Government's National Security Strategy, Strategic Defence and Security Review and Comprehensive Spending Review, all published in October 2010, shortly after our review started. Between them, they set out the basic purpose of Defence, the military tasks the Government may ask the Armed Forces to undertake, and the financial envelope within which Defence must work.