14 The Department and Ascent now have in place most of the training components needed for the MFTS to operate fully by April 2020. Ascent and the Department have:
• brought into service 102 aircraft of seven different types;
• provided around 20 flight simulators and other training devices;
• built or refurbished new aircraft hangars and training facilities; and
• designed and certified 36 courses out of a planned total of 67.
Advanced jet and rear crew training has been provided since 2012, with the remaining training - for helicopter and fixed-wing students - now 94% ready and expected to be fully introduced from December 2019.6 The MFTS will then provide training as designed to meet the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 requirement from April 2020. This represents only a further three-month slippage on top of the six-year delay we reported on in 2015. The Department considers this a good outcome considering the past position of the programme. The first students to be trained entirely via the MFTS courses are expected to graduate in September 2019 (paragraphs 1.15, 2.4 and Figures 8 and 9).
15 As at 31 March 2019, Ascent had received £514 million from the Department for introducing the MFTS and starting to deliver courses. As well as some debt repayments, this sum includes £145 million (30%) relating to fixed payments for designing the system, managing training courses and maintaining courseware. It also includes £245 million (52%) for ensuring the training components, such as the aircraft and simulators, were available for courses. Historical delays introducing the MFTS meant Ascent did not initially receive £15 million where training components were not in place. The Department was eventually liable for paying Ascent £10 million of this sum given it had failed to fulfill its responsibilities or remained contractually liable to make payments. As training components have been introduced, Ascent has delivered an increased number of courses (paragraph 1.16 and Figure 6).
16 As at 31 March 2019, 44 out of the 369 planned MFTS courses had been cancelled due to one or other party failing to fulfill its responsibilities. Neither the Department nor Ascent could easily provide a full list of delayed courses with underlying reasons, in part because the different roles and responsibilities make it difficult to determine the causes. Of the 44 cancelled courses, 28 related to the Department not fulfilling responsibilities such as not providing sufficient air traffic controllers or because runways were being refurbished. Other reasons have included:
• insufficient qualified instructors provided by the Department: For each training type, the Department has agreed to provide a proportion of the required instructors. This includes 75% of helicopter instructors and all live-flying, fast-jet instructors. However, there are currently military instructor shortfalls which the Department and Ascent are working to resolve; and
• availability of aircraft provided by Ascent and the Department: Ascent and its subcontractors provide all aircraft apart from the Hawk T2, which the Department provides through BAE Systems. Apart from helicopters, aircraft availability has been poor across the system. For example, between April and July 2019, Ascent did not provide the elementary flying, rear crew and multi-engine aircraft required. The Department provided an average of 12 advanced jet aircraft per day, against a required 18 per day.
In addition, the Department chose not to provide students for 10 of the planned 369 courses (paragraphs 2.12 to 2.20 and Figures 10 to 12).
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6 The fixed-wing package includes elementary flying and multi-engine training, which have been fully introduced, and basic jet training, which the Department and Ascent expect to be ready for training use from November 2019.