asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will consider appointing an individual on a five-year contract with total overall responsibility for the Bowman military radio system; and whether this individual might be made directly responsible to the Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support. [HL3361]

Bowman CIP is one of the networks that underpin the aim of achieving network-enabled capability in defence. Management arrangements take account of the need to integrate Bowman CIP with other networks and systems. We recently clarified and strengthened the higher-level management arrangements for the Bowman CIP programme and we are reviewing how we could improve the governance arrangements for network-enabled capability to ensure that programmes such as Bowman CIP deliver the maximum benefit.