Defence Organisation

MOD is both a policy-making Department of State - like any other central government department - as well as being the highest level military headquarters in the UK, providing political control of all military operations. It controls resources for the Armed Forces of some £30 billion per year. Within it and across MOD, military and civilian personnel work closely together to deliver Britain's defence.

Defence Ministers

The Ministry of Defence is headed by the Secretary of State for Defence who is responsible for the formulation and conduct of defence policy. Three Defence Ministers support the Secretary of State:

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces is responsible for operational and policy issues affecting the Armed Forces; The Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support has responsibility for procurement of defence equipment and defence exports; and the Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans has responsibility for environmental and regulatory issues, service and civilian personnel casework, public service matters and veterans' issues.

The four defence Ministers are accountable to Parliament. Parliament's role is to approve the level of Defence expenditure and to provide oversight through exposing, advising and holding the Government of the day to account for its decisions.

The Principal Advisers

The Defence Ministers have two principal advisers: one military, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and one civilian, the Permanent Secretary (PUS). Neither of these is subordinate to the other. They share responsibility for much of the Department's business, reflecting the input that both military and civilian personnel make to policy, financial, administrative and operational matters.

CDS is the professional head of the Armed Forces and the principal military adviser to the Secretary of State and the Government. PUS, as the Government's principal civilian adviser on Defence, has primary responsibility for policy, finance and administration in the Department. As MOD's Principal Accounting Officer, the Permanent Secretary is also personally accountable to Parliament for the expenditure of all public money provided for defence purposes.

Managing Defence

Managing Defence is a complex business and Ministers, military officers and civilians officials work together to provide effective direction. A number of senior committees underpin the management of defence. The four Defence Ministers and senior officials provide, in different groupings, the membership of these committees. The most important committees in the MOD are the Defence Council and the Defence Management Board. The Defence Council is the senior Departmental Committee. Chaired by the Secretary of State it provides the formal legal basis for the conduct of defence. The Defence Management Board is the highest, non-ministerial, committee. It is essentially the "Corporate Board" of the MOD providing senior level leadership and strategic management of defence to maximise our defence capability and our contribution to international peace and stability.

MOD Headquarters

The MOD Headquarters is at the heart of policy making in the MOD. It has an integrated Service and civilian staff (the Central Staff) who bring their own unique qualities and skills to the policy making process. Headed jointly by the 2nd Permanent Secretary and the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (deputies to the Permanent Secretary and CDS respectively), the Headquarters is responsible for the four fundamental aspects of Defence policy and planning:

• Strategy and Leadership - providing the strategic vision for defence and top level leadership of the 3 Single Services
• Setting Policy - providing long term strategic planning, defining requirements e.g. force levels, and the formulation and dissemination of departmental level policy
• Corporate Planning and Image - the management of MOD’s planning processes including the development of outputs and targets and undertaking our annual planning process
• Setting Targets, Allocating Resources and Measuring Performance - setting realistic departmental and organisational targets, allocating resources to meet them and monitoring performance against them

Within the MOD Headquarters - but sitting outside the Central Staff - are the three single Service Chiefs of Staff: the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, the Chief of the General Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff. They are members of both the Defence Council and the Defence Management Board. As the professional heads of their respective Services they are part of the top management team within MOD Headquarters, representing the interests of their Single Service but taking decisions at the highest level on a corporate basis with their other senior colleagues. They are also responsible for their own Service's fighting effectiveness, efficiency and morale. The individual Service Chiefs and the CDS have the right of direct access both to Secretary of State and to the Prime Minister. Aside from PUS, CDS, 2nd PUS, VCDS and the Chiefs of Staff, the other key senior officials are Chief of Defence Materiel and the Chief Scientific Adviser.