‘Value for money’ lies at the heart of the Strategic Defence Review and at the 2B Interface solution

2B Interface, the broad-ranging staffing and recruitment agency providing manual, skilled, office and management personnel from Britain and many other countries, has launched a new bespoke service for the defence sector and its first and second tier contractors.

Launched at the recent Farnborough Air Show, the new service encompasses a range of temporary staff with relevant skills including office, managerial, and manufacturing.

The UK defence budget currently stands at 5.8% of total government expenditure and is one of the departments of state that has not seen its budget ring-fenced as part of the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review. According to the latest figures (2007), the UK is the second highest spender (in cash terms) on Defence in the world behind only the United States. At 2.5% (2006) of GDP, the Defence Spending of the UK is above the NATO European average.

Beatrice Bartlay, Managing Director, 2B Interface, stated: “The Ministry of Defence is committed to making value for money savings worth £2.7bn over the CSR period to reinvest in Defence. Initiatives to achieve this include: a 5% year-on-year reduction in the MoD’s administrative overhead, including a 25% saving in the Department’s Head Office in London and the continued simplification of single Service Budgetary and headquarters structures. And this is what we know now about now,”

“The Comprehensive Spending Review will call for even greater budget reductions. For contractors to the MoD what will rapidly become paramount will be the need to deliver cost-effective solutions in everything they supply from front line hardware, to repairs and maintenance.”

According to the latest press reports the army may be expected to offer to put much of its current heavy tank and artillery capability into storage, while the navy will expect to see reductions in its current fleet and in future orders for Type-45 destroyers and the Type-26 frigate, which has not yet been build and is not expected to see service until 2026.