Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
51st Report - The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability
Published 31 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Department told us that it has plans to upgrade accommodation at RAF Marham but will not complete these plans for many years. The Department will upgrade 900 accommodation units and bedrooms across the base. However, the Department told us that the programme for doing so began in 2021 and will not be completed until 2034. The Department acknowledged that it would have preferred to have upgraded the accommodation earlier to coincide with personnel arriving to work on F-35. But it said that this was not possible because it needed to make savings and prioritised preserving its operational output over upgrading infrastructure.44 We believe this length of time for refurbishment is unacceptable and have asked the Department to write to us to say how this can be accelerated. The Department told us that it had made significant investment in upgrading single-living accommodation at RAF Lossiemouth, which was a few years ahead of RAF Marham in the programme, and linked that to the workforce there feeling engaged, valued and invested in.45 43 Q 107 44 Q 105 45 Q 107 13 3 F-35 costs and future procurement Costs
From: Public Accounts Committee, 51st Report - The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability (HC 1232), 31 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-first Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 31 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-first 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 agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on the F-35, disagreeing on a F-35-specific workforce plan and on updating the Committee on Dual Capable Aircraft costs.
- On Full Operating Capability, the government agrees that criteria should take account of capability gaps and sustainment, with a target implementation date of November 2026.
- It agrees to write to the Committee by 30 April 2026 on increasing F-35 availability, saying the longer timeline is needed to draw on lessons from Carrier Strike Group 25.
- It disagrees with producing an F-35-specific recruitment and retention plan and will instead address the issue through the "ongoing RAF People Campaign".
- On RAF Marham accommodation, it will write by 31 May 2026 to advise "whether" the current timescale can be brought forward, after infrastructure requirements are reassessed following the Defence Investment Plan.