Page 81 - Five Forces of Americanisation Richard Hooke 04072025 final post SDR1

The UK Defence Industry in the 21 Century
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The Five Forces of Americanisation

Notes
1. Football & Sports Services International Limited (“FSSI”) was a Joint Venture company formed in 1990 by
British Aerospace and The Football Association to promote football in Saudi Arabia, providing a growing
young, male population in the Kingdom with training, coaching and other technical support, including
infrastructure development, in order to establish the game in the region. This would provide career and
recreational opportunities for the burgeoning male population whilst enabling the country to develop
diplomatic ties worldwide.
(Author’s notes as FSSI’s launch General Manager).
2. “A civil service fit for the future” John Manzoni delivered a speech at the Institute of Government on
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progress in transforming the Civil Service (Institute of Government, 1 May, 2018)
3. The UK’s new One Defence initiative’s focus on integration and co-ordination echoes that of One Defence;
Australia. Its “First Principles Review was commissioned in August 2014 to ensure that Defence is fit for
purpose and is able to deliver against its strategy with the minimum resources necessary.
The review identified the need for Defence to cease operating as a federation of separate parts and
become an integrated organisation. This was termed the ‘One Defence’ approach.
The review was founded on 7 principles:
I. Clear authorities and accountabilities that align with resources: decision-makers are empowered and
held responsible for delivering on strategies and plans within agreed resourcing.
II. Outcome orientation: delivering what is required with processes, systems and tools being the means
not the end.
III. Simplicity: eliminating complicated and unnecessary structures, processes, systems and tools.
IV. Focus on core business: Defence doing only for itself what no one else can do more effectively and
efficiently.
V. Professionalism: committed people with the right skills in appropriate jobs
VI. Timely, contestable advice: using internal and external expertise to provide the best advice so that the
outcome is delivered in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.
VII. Transparency: honest and open behaviour which enables others to know exactly what Defence is
doing and why.”
(Source: “First Principles Review: Creating One Defence” Australia Government: announced Defence Kevin
Andrews. Minister for Defence Minister, April 2014. Report published August 2014)
4. “Whitehall’s crown commercial representative for Carillion “rotated off” the now-collapsed government
contractor last summer, the civil service chief executive John Manzoni admitted yesterday.
“The firm, which has around 450 contracts with government, went into liquidation on Monday after it issued
two profit warnings, the first of which was in July last year. Government has been under fire for continuing
to award contracts to Carillion despite the warnings.
“Manzoni, who also serves as Cabinet Office permanent secretary, said Carillion had not been monitored by
a crown rep during the months in which it was struggling under £900m of debt. But he insisted that the bulk
of supplier engagement work was done by a full-time team dedicated to Carillion, headed by a more junior
strategic partnership manager.
“The former BP executive was giving evidence to Commons’ Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs
Committee yesterday for its inquiry on civil service effectiveness. PACAC has just announced a separate
inquiry into the risks of outsourcing the delivery of public services and lessons that can be learned
from Carillion’s demise.
“Manzoni pointed out that the civil service had already shored itself up against such risks, having
implemented a functional structure across government with a commercial capability to oversee the
relationship between the public and private sector. Over the past couple of years, it has identified the 30 to
35 biggest government suppliers and has introduced “dedicated teams focused on those”, he said.
“In this case, had we had this situation a couple of years ago I think the outcome would have been
significantly different and probably significantly worse for the public sector than it is today,” said Manzoni.
“The civil service has 22 crown commercial representatives that act as a focal point for particular groups of
suppliers working with the public sector, and have responsibility to assess whether companies are high
risk. Carillion’s crown representative was listed on GOV.UK as “TBC”.
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07/07/2025 Richard Hooke 2025