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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has blocked the publication of a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into its activities, Byline Time has learned.
In response to a freedom of information request asking for the number and details of MoD reports by the National Audit Office that could not be publicly released, the MoD said: “There is one instance, in the past five years, where the NAO have undertaken an investigation which has not been publicly released.”
It added that the details were withheld “for reasons of Defence, National Security, International Relations and Commercial Interests.”
The Freedom of Information request was submitted by the London-based charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV). When AOAV contacted the MoD for more information, the ministry was not able to confirm the subject of the report.
“We work openly and transparently with the NAO on activity related to value for money studies and investigative work,” the MoD said.
Each year, the NAO completes targeted investigations into MoD operations alongside auditing its regular equipment plan reports, and annual report and accounts for the ministry.
In recent years, these Value for Money reports have covered areas including: strategic shortcomings undermining the role of the UK Space Agency, weaknesses in defence inventory management, and the MoD’s management of infrastructure projects at nuclear-regulated sites.
The ministry said that the NAO had conducted 18 MoD reports between 2019 and 2023.
“In agreement with the NAO, only one of these has not been published,” it said.
But with finance minister Rachel Reeves having pledged an extra £2.9 billion to the defence ministry during a period of budget uncertainty, stagnant economic growth and high interest rates, AOAV argues the public has a right to know the agendas and outcomes of all NAO value for money reports and investigations.
Reeves said in her first budget speech that the additional funds alongside an annual £3-billion in military assistance for Ukraine would support government plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
Weeks later, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the economic grew by just 0.1% in Q3 compared with 0.5% in Q2.
The admission of the suppressed investigation follows the discovery by the Guardian earlier this year of a censored 1992 official report by NAO into alleged corruption in a major British-Saudi arms contract, concluding a three-decade campaign for the document to be published.
In 1985, the Government of Margaret Thatcher and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi defence minister, agreed the £40 billion al-Yamamah contract for the supply of military equipment and aircraft. The MoD had a formal agreement with the Saudi government to supervise the contract under which BAE Systems was the major contractor.
Soon after, it was alleged that members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family were receiving bribes on the agreement.
In April Spotlight on Corruption and Transparency International UK called for a National Audit Office inquiry into the alleged involvement of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the bribery scandal revealed following the acquittal of two men accused of corruption offences in March.
But a campaign source told AOAV that the NAO confirmed in April that it was not intending to conduct an audit on this particular issue. The NAO said that any developments on the matter would be published on the organisation’s website, the source added.
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Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said to Byline Times: “This is a truly appalling decision from a department which for decades has been notorious for its careless and wasteful attitude towards taxpayers’ money.”
“The National Audit Office does vital work and has never been more important given the pressing demands for significant increases in defence spending. The Ministry of Defence should allow the publication of the report and ensure that in future it’s more open and accountable to the public that funds it.”