Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
The Department has no meaningful targets or high-level performance framework to incentivise it to develop...
Conclusion
The Department has no meaningful targets or high-level performance framework to incentivise it to develop an affordable estate that better supports defence needs. The Department missed two short-term government targets set in the 2015 Spending Review to release land for 55,000 new homes by March 2020 and raise £1 billion from the sale of land by March 2021. It raised £538 million and released land for just 9,200 houses, having never thought it could meet the target. The Department did not seek to update its targets to reflect changing circumstances, such as the decision of the United States to retain three large airfields in East Anglia that the Department had planned to sell. Furthermore, since 2016 the Department has shifted emphasis from primarily identifying land to sell to ‘optimising’ its estate, which renders a target to reduce the estate’s size less relevant. The Department now forecasts its estate will shrink by only 16% and has just abandoned its one remaining target to reduce the built estate by 30% by 2040. It has not yet introduced any targets to replace this and acknowledges that it needs more specific, shorter-term targets focussing on deliverables to encourage it to identify and dispose of land it no longer needs, but it does not know what these should be. Recommendation: By 31 December 2021, the Department should reset its estate optimisation targets, developing specific shorter-term deliverables, including reductions in the size of estate; sale proceeds; and savings in estate running costs.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2: PAC conclusion: The Department has no meaningful targets or high-level performance framework to incentivise it to develop an affordable estate that better supports defence needs. 2: PAC recommendation: By 31 December 2021, the Department should reset its estate optimisation targets, developing specific shorter-term deliverables, including reductions in the size of estate; sale proceeds; and savings in estate running costs. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 2.2 The department has a clear plan for modernising its capabilities and reducing the size of the estate to meet Defence’s requirements, aligning with the 2021 Integrated Review (IR) and publication of the Command Paper. The department now has clarity on its near-term priorities and is committed to delivering the military requirement as efficiently as possible. 2.3 The department confirmed with Defence Ministers that the 2015 target to reduce the built estate by 30% is no longer appropriate and will no longer be pursued. The original target, which had been set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, was a top-down target assumption and was not based on detailed plans. Following the 2020 SR, 2021 IR and the publication of the Defence Command Paper, the department has a clear plan for modernising its capabilities and reducing the size of the estate of the next few years. 2.4 The DEO Portfolio will align its targets and benefits with the outcome of the 2021 IR. The department is working on delivering a refreshed DEO portfolio plan to reflect a post-IR capability laydown. Given the work involves refreshing the plan and re-costing implications of project changes and benefits, it is expected to be completed and formally endorsed within the department by Spring 2022.