12
Accepted
The stages that the Department must complete before it can rehouse displaced units and sell...
Conclusion
The stages that the Department must complete before it can rehouse displaced units and sell vacated sites can be slow and complex. The Department’s planned site disposal projects are scheduled to take an average of six years to complete, although on occasion it has achieved faster disposals, including for the Strategic Command chaplaincy and the joint bands. The Department said that it shared our frustration with the time taken, and explained that it has started to look at ways it might speed up disposals. It is working with commercial teams to support quicker construction and delivery of sites, which it expects will reduce timescales by 12 or possibly 18 months. It is also engaging with the government-wide Project Speed, which aims to reduce the time to deliver government infrastructure projects.18 While the Department told us that it works closely with the Government Property Unit, it could not point to any systematic exercise to identify good practices in other departments.19 Incentives to develop an affordable estate
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation (which it treats as a recommendation), stating a target implementation date of Summer 2022, and committing to provide a report to the Committee after Ministerial endorsement and a parliamentary update.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2022 3.2 The department will provide a report to the Committee immediately following the Ministers’ endorsement and subsequent update to Parliament. 3.3 The department has disposed of over 200 surplus sites since 2015 in line with expectations to the value of over £1 billion. The department has also been optimising its use of the current estate to ensure it is appropriately located, resilient and sustainable to provide better value for money. 3.4 Following the 2020 SR, DEO is now fully funded following a gap left by withdrawal of Private Finance funding. It will meet new capability demands and be an important but not exclusive part of optimising the estate. The DEO portfolio SRO has worked closely with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and engaged with a client-side partner to provide private sector and industry knowledge for maximising returns. The SRO has also engaged with relevant cross-Whitehall stakeholders, such as the Cabinet Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
Twentieth Report - Optimising the defence estate
12 Oct 2021
HC 179
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
4.8 yrs
Report published
12 Oct 2021