Q81 Stephen Barclay: You do not know how many your potentially most stretched Senior Responsible Owner is covering.
Vice Admiral Lambert: I know each one of the SROs; I can go through his programmes, and whether I add them up in one way or another, he and Deep Target Attack between them probably cover most of the programmes.
Q82 Stephen Barclay: We have established Commodore Beverstock is SRO for four projects, two of which are now on hold? Brigadier Jaques was responsible for six major projects with a combined valuation of £17 billion, and our exchange last year led to a recommendation by this Committee. I contacted the MOD on Monday via the NAO, and I know that message got through, because a Defence Minister made reference to it as we were voting on Tuesday, but I was not provided with the up-to-date figures for this year. It is a very simple question: how many projects is any single Senior Responsible Owner responsible for?
Vice Admiral Lambert: Brigadier Jaques has moved on, on promotion.
Q83 Stephen Barclay: It is often the way.
Vice Admiral Lambert: John Britten now has his, which is why I said he has probably got the most.
Q84 Stephen Barclay: How many is his replacement covering? Is it still the same as last year-six major projects?
Vice Admiral Lambert: Yes it is; that has not changed.
Q85 Stephen Barclay: What is the current combined value of those six projects?
Vice Admiral Lambert: I could not give you that figure off the top of my head.
Q86 Stephen Barclay: It is probably north of £17 billion, isn't it?
Vice Admiral Lambert: Yes, over a 10-year period.
Q87 Stephen Barclay: If someone is covering a multiple number of projects, how can their move be linked to a distinct phase on each of those projects? Does it not stand to reason that there cannot be a distinct phase at the same time on each project?
Vice Admiral Lambert: There is a difference between the project management that happens in Abbey Wood and the need to keep the project and the operating centres there for long periods of time. The SRO's role is to oversee what happens in Abbey Wood, watch the finances, and ensure that all the other lines of development, such as the people, the training, the infrastructure, come in on time. Quite often this Committee talks about projects and SROs where the real responsibility for the project lies with the Project Officer in Abbey Wood.
Q88 Stephen Barclay: What the Committee often talks about is the lack of clarity as to who is accountable. If I could take you to the PAC recommendation from this hearing last year, which is in Treasury Minutes for May 2011, PAC Conclusion Recommendation 3 says that it is "common for the Department to appoint a single individual to be responsible for a wide range of different major projects-a task no one person can properly fulfil." It went on to say, "The Department should ensure that SROs remain in post during key phases of a project lifecycle." The response from the Government to that recommendation at paragraph 3.1 says the Government agrees with the Committee's recommendation. We had this discussion last year about one Brigadier covering £17 billion of spend over six projects in addition to other responsibilities, the difficulty around accountability for that and the reporting lines in from him and the fact he was not sitting on key committees; therefore, could he really be accountable? As a result of that, the Committee made a recommendation, which you accepted. I am trying to understand whether anything has changed following that recommendation.
Vice Admiral Lambert: We are in a process of change, because, following the Levene review into the Ministry of Defence, we are reviewing precisely where the SRO responsibility best sits. In the Department that I run, we are looking at the totality of responsibilities and how they are moving forward. The recommendations of this Committee will be taken into consideration as we go through that process.
Q89 Stephen Barclay: You are saying that nothing has really changed from last year?
Vice Admiral Lambert: The appointments that were in train during the year have continued. We are looking at how many of the one stars are going to remain in the main building, and what their responsibilities are during the Defence reform.
Q90 Stephen Barclay: Commodore, could you please explain to us how your executive authority has changed over the last year as an SRO?
Commodore Beverstock: I do not believe it has.