Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
The Department told us that it has the key elements of a strategy, and that...
Conclusion
The Department told us that it has the key elements of a strategy, and that the DEO Portfolio is the major component of this. The Portfolio, however, only covers the UK built estate. The Department could not demonstrate that it has a coherent, comprehensive strategy to deliver necessary reforms of its whole estate and to manage all related estate initiatives.8 Instead, it has a plethora of estate initiatives, such as the Future Accommodation Model for improving service personnel accommodation, which will affect the DEO Portfolio once the Department has decided whether or not to proceed. The reform of the reserve, training and overseas estates remains outside the Department’s estate optimisation plans, with the Department instead having undertaken separate reviews of each in recent years, further illustrating its disjointed approach.9 Slow progress in rationalising the estate
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2021/2022 1.2 The Ministry of Defence (the department) has already committed to releasing the Strategy for Defence Infrastructure (SDI) before the end of 2021. The Strategy’s vision is for a safe estate, fit for purpose to deliver military capability and support Defence people and aligns with the ambition set out in the 2020 Spending Review (SR) and 2021 Integrated Review (IR) and Command Paper. The department is investing £9.3 billion over the next ten years, which includes £4.3 billion for the Defence Estate Optimisation (DEO) portfolio and £5 billion on further modernisation of the estate. The department spends approximately £4.5 billion, annually on meeting routine running costs (£2.3 billion), conducting minor upgrade tasks (£560 million) and delivering more substantive repairs (£1.7 billion). 1.3 The DEO portfolio is now fully funded for the first time and is being adjusted to align with the direction set out in the 2021 IR for the future of the armed forces. The work to update the plan is expected to be completed by Spring 2022, the results of which will be shared with the Committee. 1.4 The infrastructure operating model provides the mechanism to manage the interdependencies between estate initiatives. The management of the DEO portfolio under a single Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) provides the necessary governance, oversight, and financial and delivery planning processes to manage the interdependencies with other estate initiatives. The department is already undertaking a review of the Reserves Forces Estate. The findings will be shared with Parliament in due course.