Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the difference has been in his Department's business case spending compared to its actual spending on the Army Recruiting Partnership Project since the 2011-12 financial year.

The Recruiting Partnership Project is a ten-year output based contract between the Army and the service provider (Capita), spend includes both the Service Provider and Defence costs.

For the period from contract award (February 2012) to 31 March 2017 against a Main Gate Approval of £698.4 million the actual spend has been £751.9 million.

The overall cost increase within the contract is primarily a result of the decision to transfer responsibility for the delivery of the Information Communication Technology, including the Defence Recruiting System from Defence to the Service Provider.