UK MOD Writes Off £110 Million In Losses

The Ministry of Defence wrote off more than £110 million in losses last year. Its annual accounts show that some £10.2 million of spending in 2010/11 was counted as "fruitless payments". The write-offs include a £1.7 million out-of-court settlement with a furniture company at the end of a contract. A crash involving a warhead at the Naval Air Warfare Centre in China Lake, California, cost more than £1 million. The grounding of HMS Astute in Skye last October is expected to cost another £2.3 million, the accounts show. This year's losses also include a "gift" of fibre glass helmets and body armour to the Ugandan government. It cost almost £1.7 million. Just over £57 million was written off as "constructive losses" - mainly cancelled projects. As well as the £110 million lost in 2010/11, the accounts recorded further losses of £6.5 million which will be signed off in future years. They include the cost of scrapping Nimrod and the withdrawal of the Harrier fleet of jets - both announced by Defence Secretary Liam Fox in the Strategic Defence and Security Review. An MOD spokeswoman said: "As we acknowledged in our response to the NAO's (National Audit Office) report in June, the Ministry of Defence has not managed its resources well for many years.