§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether a management information and accounting system is in use in his Department; whether the information adduced is received and analysed at ministerial level; whether it is publicly available; and whether any changes are proposed in the coming year.
§ Mr. PattieThe Ministry of Defence has a wide variety of management information systems and a large number of accounts within a management accounting system—'ABC', Acquisition, Bufferstocks and Consumption—all designed to serve the diverse needs of 695W Service and civilian establishments, higher organisations and MOD headquarters. Information from these systems is received by Ministers as necessary for their continuous review of programmes against resources. Much of the statistical information is published, for example, in part 2 of the statement on Defence Estimates, and some of the accounts are published. The management accounting system is being further developed within the ABC framework and consideration is being given to proposals for trials in a number of line management areas of responsibility budgets based on such accounts.