SBAC Support Call for Spending on Defence Technology

SBAC today expressed its support for a report from the House of Commons Defence Committee on the Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). It calls for Treasury to fund defence programmes adequately and to reverse the decline in funding for defence research and technology.

SBAC's Director-General, Sally Howes, said:

"Defence research and technology has been in long-term decline. It is vital both for the Armed Forces and the future health of the UK based defence industry that this trend is reversed."

She added:
"The Defence Committee's Report highlights the importance of companies at all levels of the supply chain and makes clear that MoD needs to demonstrate through its own change that it is serious about Defence Industrial Strategy. SBAC will work with the Committee to monitor progress and support change.

The Committee noted the universal welcome from industry for the DIS when in was published in December 2005. The report stresses the need for the DIS to be properly implemented by the MoD to ensure that results are delivered, and for attention to be paid to the issue of companies below prime level having access to sub-contract work where MoD decides to form a long term partnership with a prime contractor.

All these issues were highlighted by SBAC in the evidence it gave to the Committee earlier this year.

Source : SBAC