Full Report - National Audit Office

executive summary1 The Ministry of Defence (the Department) has aworldwide estate valued at £15.3 billion and is one ofthe largest landowners in the United Kingdom with anestate of 240,000 hectares. The estate is split between‘built’ (80,000 hectares) and ‘rural’ (160,000 hectares).The built estate consists of a wide range of facilitiesincluding barracks, depots, aircraft hangars and navalbases. The rural estate comprises training areas andranges on relatively undeveloped rural land that is oftenof particular environmental significance. For example,the Department has direct managerial responsibility fornearly 200 sites of special scientific interest. In addition,the Department has responsibility for over 1,600 listedbuildings and monuments. Annual expenditure on theestate is some £1.3 billion. The majority of the defenceestate is managed by the Defence Estates agency.2 The Department is accountable for the managementof its estate through a number of vehicles. The Departmentpublishes an annual Stewardship Report detailing progressagainst its goals and objectives. It also now reportsbiennially to the Committee of Public Accounts on theprogress of all important estate activity, including majorprojects and rationalisation. This is the first time thatthe Department has reported in this way and its reportreplaces a previous annual report to the Committee onthe top 20 estate projects.3 The challenges that the Department is facingin managing its estate are growing and, in particular,operational needs are becoming more demanding.Future management and configuration of the estate isa key element of the Department’s change programme;there are plans for estate rationalisation, more effectivearrangements for maintaining the estate and buildingnew accommodation. The defence estate had suffered adeterioration in its quality; a result not only of previouslimits on funding, but also the use of traditional methodsof managing and procuring estate services. For example,the multiplicity of maintenance contracts managed byvarious budget holders had meant that significant fundsdevoted to maintenance were going on administration.Poor information about the estate had also meant thatinvestment decisions were not always soundly based.1Defence estate facts and distribution of significant facilitiesThe defence estate is widely scattered over the United Kingdom and contains a wide range of facilitiesOver 450 sites including 3 navalbases, 213 barracks and campsand 64 major and minor airfields.Over 53,000 families’ quarters inthe UK and over 18,000 families’quarters overseas.Many of the sites are widelydispersed and relatively small; some80 per cent of the Department’smanned sites in Great Britainwere occupied by fewer than500 full-time staff.The largest proportion of statutorilyprotected buildings held by theGovernment (52 per cent of allgovernment heritage sites).188 Sites/Areas of SpecialScientific Interest in the UK coveringover half the Defence ruralestate, the largest such estate inGovernment hands and most variedin terms of habitats and species.Salisbury Plain Training Areaextends to some 38,000 hectaresand is farmed by 43 Tenant Farmers.In addition to sustaining militarytraining, intensive and extensiveagriculture and 138 individualspecies of nationally importantflora and fauna, Salisbury Plainalso accommodates a number ofindependent recreational users.Source: Defence EstatesMINISTRY OF DEFENCE: MANAGING THE DEFENCE ESTATE 1