Francais | English | Espanõl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Defence Council of the United Kingdom is the body legally entrusted with the defence of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories and with control over the British armed forces, and is part of the Ministry of Defence.

Prior to 1964, there were five bodies responsible for the armed forces: the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Aviation, and a smaller Ministry of Defence.

The Defence Council is chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence, who answers to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Cabinet. The Defence Council is responsible for formulating policy, ensuring that the three services are run efficiently and in accordance with the wishes of the government of the day. In practice almost all the work of the Council is conducted by correspondence and it rarely meets.

There are three service boards chaired by the Secretary of State which report to the full Defence Council, namely the Admiralty Board, the Army Board and the Air Force Board.

[edit] Membership

The members of the Defence Council are:

[edit] Ministers

• Secretary of State for Defence
• Minister for the Armed Forces
• Minister for Defence Procurement and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
• Minister for Veterans and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

[edit] Officials

• Chief of the Defence Staff
• Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff

• Chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord
• Chief of the General Staff
• Chief of the Air Staff

• Chief of Defence Procurement
• Chief of Defence Logistics
• MoD Chief Scientific Adviser

• Permanent Under-Secretary of State
• Second Permanent Under Secretary of State