Fresh concerns have been raised over an £11bn training programme for the military – one of the government’s largest private finance initiatives – after the fallout from the credit crunch raised its cost by almost 10 per cent in less than 20 months.

The Defence Training Review (DTR) will centralise all non-military technical training for army, navy and air force personnel in one academy, at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.