Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 14
53rd Report - Cost of maintaining the FCDO’s overseas estate
Published 12 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Cost of maintaining the FCDO’s overseas estate All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Posts have responsibility for maintaining their estates. This is funded through budgets allocated to posts by FCDO’s geographic directorates.36 The Head of Mission in each post—the Ambassador or High Commissioner— has the discretion to decide, within the broad budget areas allocated, how 29 Qq 27, 65 30 Q 27; HMT, Spending Review 2025, CP 1336, 11 June 2025 31 Q 28 32 Q 61 33 Q 32; C&AG’s report, para 1.2 34 C&AG’s report, para 2.9 35 Q 32 36 Q 57; C&AG’s report, para 2.17 11 they will use it locally.37 As we noted in our June 2025 report on Condition of government property, a failure to carry out regular maintenance can lead to bigger problems, such as water leaks or roofs collapsing.38 Reactive repairs cost more than preventative maintenance and are poor value for money.39 FCDO has, however, historically prioritised spending on addressing immediate risks, rather than on carrying out all required preventative maintenance and has found that posts routinely fail to monitor and maintain their property.40 FCDO plans to publish in October 2025 a revised maintenance strategy, drawing on lessons learned from its outsourced facilities management contracts in Europe and Asia, which will give posts clearer guidance on their maintenance responsibilities.41
From: Public Accounts Committee, 53rd Report - Cost of maintaining the FCDO’s overseas estate (HC 884), 12 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-third Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 12 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth-third report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the report's recommendations, and reports some as implemented and others with target dates.
- On estate strategy, the government agrees; an Overseas Network Review fully launching in January 2026 will look at the overall size and shape of the FCDO footprint, and the estates strategy is "due to be updated next in Spring 2026".
- On the maintenance backlog, the government agrees; the Overseas Estate Department is developing a more robust approach to its annual programme of works, with a target implementation date of end March 2029, and it will write to the Committee within six months categorising buildings by risk.
- On governance, the government agrees; a new Estates Committee was established in October 2025 and will meet quarterly, and an external review of the operating model and project delivery is due in Spring 2026.
- On lessons learned from capital projects, the government agrees; the FCDO "is re-establishing a comprehensive lessons-learned process across all capital projects", with a target implementation date of March 2026.