Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the senior responsible owners in his Department had (a) no formal project management qualifications and (b) not completed the Major Programmes Leadership Academy at the time of their appointment.

Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) of our Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) programmes are carefully selected and assessed for suitability prior to appointment. This includes consideration of prior experience as well as any formal qualifications held.

Three current GMPP SROs were appointed based on experience alone but have since undertaken or are undertaking formal training.

SROs of GMPP programmes are prioritised by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority for Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA) places. It is therefore rare for candidates to undertake MPLA prior to taking up a first GMPP SRO appointment.

Of our current GMPP SRO cohort, thirty required MPLA training on appointment and ten were MPLA graduates before being appointed.

The Department does not routinely store historic information about the qualifications candidates had achieved on appointment to SRO roles outside of the Government Major Projects Portfolio.