Recommendation 19

The Department told us that when DIO was established, its knowledge of the estate was not held in one place and that it has worked to understand what estate it holds and its condition. Despite this, the Department confirmed that it is still several years from having the data it needs to actually manage its estate properly. It is introducing an asset management system and, by January 2021, had assessed 65% of the assets on its estate. 21 Q 51; C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 22 Qq 23, 57 and 69; C&AG’s Report, para 3.22 23 Qq 6, 8 and 23; C&AG’s Report, para 3 24 Q 19; C&AG’s Report, para 1.7; Letter dated 19 July 2021 from Permanent Secretary to the Committee 25 Qq 20, 24, 33 and 54; C&AG’s Report, paras 4 and 12 26 Letter dated 19 July 2021 from Permanent Secretary to the Committee 27 Qq 21 and 32; C&AG’s Report, para 7 28 Qq 37, 43, 45 and 90; C&AG’s Report, para 19; Committee of Public Accounts, Managing the defence budget and estate, Tenth Report of Session 2010–11, HC 503, December 2010 12 Optimising the defence estate However, the Department does not expect to have reached a ‘competent’ level of asset management until 2025. The Department said that it will only be then that it will be able to manage its assets more effectively and enable the commands to take informed decisions on the optimum time to invest in buildings or take them out of use.29