Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he requests the Single Source Regulation Office to perform additional analysis, on the basis of information it has received or generated, but which it is not required to perform, who pays for this analysis; and what estimate he has made of the costs of that analysis to his Department.

The Defence Reform Act (DRA) 2014 grants the Ministry of Defence (MOD) the power to request the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) to undertake additional analysis of the standard reports provided to it by industry. To date, the MOD has not made any such request to the SSRO.

Since such work would fall outside the core responsibilities of the SSRO, the MOD would be required to pay the SSRO for any additional costs arising. It is too soon after the implementation of the DRA to make any worthwhile estimate of the potential costs to the MOD.