13.1 | Resources

“The other factor is that our aspirations are rising and the harder we fight the better

we want to do it.”

488. Mr Browne’s Assistant Private Secretary suggested to Mr Browne that they should

discuss the UOR culture that was forming, and “whether we need to re‑steer a little or

accept that this is the new price of doing business”.

489. The MOD told the Inquiry that it has no record of a discussion between Mr Browne

and his Assistant Private Secretary on that issue.294

490. Mr Browne wrote to Mr Timms on 4 December to request an increase of £460m

in the combined UOR envelope for Iraq and Afghanistan.295

491. Mr Timms was advised by a Treasury official on 9 January 2007 that:

“At official level, MOD have indicated that the underlying reason for the sustained

high level of UORs is linked to a Ministerial judgement that soldiers must be

provided with the optimum equipment, especially where force protection is at stake.

“HMT [the Treasury] have never refused a request to fund a UOR. Once forces are

deployed and commanders are generating requirements it is difficult to deny the

resources … It follows that the mechanism for limiting the total cost of operations

is to resist any expansion of troops committed to operations, rather than UORs to

supply the troops already deployed in theatre.”296

492. Mr Timms agreed Mr Browne’s request in full on 15 January.297

493. Mr Browne wrote to Mr Timms on 29 March to request a further increase of

£450m in the combined UOR envelope for Iraq and Afghanistan, to cover the first

four months of the financial year 2007/08.298

494. Mr Paul Taylor, MOD Director General Equipment, met Mr James Quinault,

Head of the Treasury’s Defence, Diplomacy and Intelligence Team, on 19 April to

discuss that request.299

294 Email MOD [junior official] to Iraq Inquiry [junior official], 25 September 2013, ‘Iraq Inquiry: Queries

Relating to Resourcing – MOD Response’.

295 Letter Browne to Timms, 4 December 2006, ‘Iraq and Afghanistan – Additional Funding for Urgent

Operational Requirements’.

296 Minute Treasury [junior official] to Chief Secretary, 9 January 2007, ‘Increase in the Urgent Operational

Requirements Envelope’.

297 Letter Timms to Browne, 15 January 2007, ‘UOR Uplift’.

298 Letter Browne to Timms, 29 March 2007, [untitled].

299 Minute Taylor to PS/SofS [MOD], 24 April 2007, ‘Treasury Reaction to Requested Increase in UOR

Funding’.

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