6.7 A more fundamental concern has been the MOD's inability to reconcile ambition with resources. To support PUS in her role as Accounting Officer, the Head Office has a major role to play in planning and resource allocation and the management of Defence. The development of strategy and plans must be an iterative process with the Defence Board (including the DG Finance) playing a critical role. As set out in Part 8, the Board's role in this context should be to set the high level capability requirements and priorities for the Commands and to weigh up which policy ambitions should be funded (and which should not). To support the Defence Board in this task, we recommend a team (or teams) within Head Office should be established to perform the following functions:
• conduct strategic force development to determine high level capability requirements as the basis for Commands to develop their plans;
• provide a scrutiny and challenge function on proposed Command Plans to meet these requirements;
• package options to the Defence Board to support their strategic balance of investment decisions;
• agree and allocate budgets and responsibilities to delivery organisations (including mandating the corporate framework);
• support PUS in tracking delivery against those plans; and,
• ensure the overall plan is affordable.
6.8 This team should be significantly smaller than the current equivalents spread across the capability, Strategy and Finance areas. It will, however, need to surge in the year before and after the quinquennial SDSRs, with staff temporarily transferred from other tasks. Much of the current DCDS Capability function should transfer to the relevant Command.