Recommendation 22

The funds for improving Single Living Accommodation are not ring-fenced. While the Department stressed that Single Living Accommodation was a very high priority in Defence, it also stated there are other priorities.66 It faces wider affordability challenges, and the equipment portfolio, which is 41% of the entire defence budget, is unaffordable. In addition, the Department’s Infrastructure Plan 2020–2030 faces a £1.4 billion shortfall. Historically, the Department has struggled to maintain its accommodation against wider affordability pressures and it has re-directed funding allocated to the estate to meet other financial pressures. This led to a ‘fix on fail’ maintenance regime being adopted in 2010, which has contributed to a £1.5 billion deferred maintenance backlog across all accommodation.67 The Department stated that its figures show it currently spends about a third of what the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) suggests is needed to maintain the estate.68 We questioned whether the funds available for Single Living Accommodation were anything like enough, given the backlog. The Department could only state that the funds would allow it to deal with the poorest accommodation.69