Financial Risk:
Low
Score:
80/100
Asset Disposals
Q24
75/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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The disposal of defence assets is overseen by different units – both internal and external to the Ministry of Defence – depending on their…
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The MoD does not dispose of strategic equipment publicly, but through negotiations with other governments [1]. Buyers must meet the criteria of the Arms…
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The annual defence budget shows income figures associated with ‘revenue from strategic infrastructure sales’, ‘sales proceeds from strategic equipment’ and ‘other revenue material’ [1].…
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Q25
100/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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The Central Government Audit Service (ADR) is the independent internal auditor of the Dutch Government, including the Ministry of Defence [1]. The Government Accounts…
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There is no evidence to suggest that the Central Government Audit Service is unduly influenced in its audit process. The role of the Court…
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The Central Government Audit Service annual reports are extensive in their comprehensiveness and include topics such as acquisition processes, financial management and IT management…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
100/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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Just over 15 million euros (0.13%) of the 11.6-billion-euro defence budget is secret expenditure [1]. Secret expenditure is clearly labelled in the budget.
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Q27
25/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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There is no evidence that the House of Representatives, the Standing Committee on Defence or the Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services has…
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Q28
0/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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Article 7.15 of the Government Accounts Act 2016 states that reports of a confidential nature, such as secret expenditure, may be sent to the…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’, given that legislators are not provided with audit reports on secret items, or secret programmes are not audited…
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Q29
100/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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Off-budget military expenditures are not legally permitted [1]. The defence budget, actual spending and revenue are all reported and subsequently audited by an independent…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’, given that there are no off-budget expenditures.
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There is no evidence to suggest that off-budget military expenditures exist. Media reports refer to defence procurement budgets that exceed initial estimates, but no…
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Q30
75/100
Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?
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The Dutch Public Access to Government Information Act provides a legal framework under which the public can access information from the defence sector [1].…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. In January 2019, the Baseline Information Security Government (BIO) became the basic standard framework…
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Freedom of information requests are usually fulfilled within a few months, unless the information is classified. Disclosed documents are published online through the government…
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Q31
100/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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The MoD does not own any significant commercial businesses. (Partial) state ownership of companies is managed by the Ministry of Finance, which publishes extensive…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as the MoD does not own any significant commercial businesses. (Partial) state ownership of companies is managed by…
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
100/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
View QuestionIllegal Private Enterprise
Q33
100/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
View QuestionActual Military Spending
Q77
100/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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Actual spending on defence and security is detailed in the defence annual report [1]. The figures are divided according to policy and non-policy items…
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Just over 15 million euros (0.13%) of the 11.6-billion-euro defence budget is secret expenditure [1,2]. Article 7.20 of the Government Accounts Act 2016 stipulates…
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The annual report is released in May following the year in question (five months after the end of the financial year) [1].
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In the annual report, special attention is given to ‘overruns’ and ‘undershoots’, i.e. where the budgeted figures and the actual spending do not match…
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