§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence who is the accounting officer of each of the armed forces. [62501]
§ Mr. George RobertsonParliament requires that the format of published Supply Estimates should reflect the way in which a Department manages its expenditure—thus accountability for MOD expenditure is currently aligned with the budgetary system, rather than with individual Services, as follows
Vote 1 (covering operational and support costs): the Permanent Under-Secretary of State;Vote 2 (covering logistics services): the Chief of Defence Procurement;Vote 3 (covering defence systems procurement and research): the Chief of Defence Procurement;59WVote 4 (covering armed forces retired pay and pensions): the Permanent Under-Secretary of State.Further detail on Defence (Class I) Votes is published on pages 24 to 35 of Supply Estimates 1998–99 (HC-635 of April 1998), a copy of which is available in the Library.