Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2021 to Question 76577, on Merlin Helicopters: Expenditure, whether the incorrect recording of Merlin component lives leading to the fruitless payment of £20.995 million is related to the loss of Merlin Helicopter engineering record cards referred to in the fruitless payments section on page 160 of the Ministry of Defence Annual Reports and Accounts 2011-12 resulting in a fruitless payment of £564,000.

The two fruitless payments covered in these Annual Report and Accounts (ARAc) entries relate to separate events. The fruitless payment of £20.995 million, referenced in the Department's ARAc financial year (FY) 2014-15, reflect additional costs incurred under the Integrated Merlin Operational Support contract including a period of reduced aircraft availability in delivery of the Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme. There were underlying issues with some aspects of data and asset management on this platform within the Department leading to additional costs under the support contract and as a result of limiting availability of aircraft for a capability sustainment programme.

The £0.564 million fruitless payment covered in the FY2011-12 ARAc relates to the same Operational Support Contract. The payment was for additional costs that were incurred by the supplier due to the loss within the Ministry of Defence of a number of Engineering Record Cards. Component lives and the consumption of these lives as well as records of modification, repair and overhaul, were recorded on the cards. Without this information, worst case assumptions (penalty lives) had to be made about the life of components in order to be assured that the aircraft remained safe, which increased the need for maintenance and replacement parts.

The Department has since reviewed and improved its procedures, including the use of new record-keeping software, to avoid further such costs arising.