Recommendation 21

The Department’s vision is to achieve a more affordable estate and part of its rationale for disposing of sites is to cut running costs. Its estate is costly to run and maintain, with the Department spending £4.6 billion on its estate in 2019–20, around twice the annual cost of maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent.32 The estate is a critical component of delivering military capability. However, holding an estate that is too large means the Department is spending more than is needed on estate management, when it could be investing in new equipment and better trained personnel. The Department recognises that slow progress in completing site disposals means that it continues to pay for the running costs of buildings it no longer needs, and that delays to site disposals means these costs will not reduce as much or as quickly as planned.33