Ministry of Defence (Procurement)
Debate between Nick Smith and Jim Hood(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Gordon Henderson) on securing this debate and I want to pick up the point about contracts and transparency in Government expenditure. The strategic defence and security review will lead to the renegotiation of many contracts, and that may lead to some savings or perhaps to an increase in costs. So far, the MOD has failed to provide the Public Accounts Committee, the parliamentary body that looks at value for money in defence spending—
Mr Jim Hood (in the Chair)
Order. Interventions should not be speeches. I ask the hon. Gentleman to be brief.
Nick Smith
Thank you, Mr Hood. Does my hon. Friend agree that transparency is vital in cases such as that under discussion, so that Parliament can scrutinise expensive defence procurement issues?