Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Government Major Projects Portfolio Data 2022, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of delivering the New Style of Info Base programme (a) on time and (b) to budget in the context of the Independent Projects Authority's rating of that project as red.

The New Style of IT Base programme provides the essential ICT infrastructure used by the Ministry of Defence at OFFICIAL and SECRET. The capability delivered by the programme is now in-service.

The current authorised programme spend since inception in 2015, and to March 2025, is £2.4 billion. The programme is on track to deliver its remaining deliverables at a forecast cost of £2.2 billion.

The Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) assessed the Programme in April 2021 as Red. In response, changes in the delivery team, leadership and technical capability, including with our supplier partner were made, and subsequently the IPA Review Team gave the programme an Amber rating in May 2022, on route to planned delivery of a Green status. The New Style of IT Base (B) programme is now scheduled to formally close by the end of financial year 2022-23. I assess this date to be realistic.