1 Introduction
1. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is one of the largest
landowners in the UK, with an estate of 240,000 hectares (1% of
the UK mainland). This comprises a built estate of 80,000 hectares,
including naval bases, barracks and camps, airfields, research
and development installations, storage and distribution centres,
communications facilities, housing for Service families and careers
offices; and a rural estate of 160,000 hectares, providing training
areas and ranges. The MoD's overseas estate consists principally
of garrisons in Germany, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar,
with major training facilities in Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Norway,
Poland and Kenya, and other facilities in Ascension Island, Belize,
Brunei, Nepal, Singapore and the United States. The total defence
estate is valued at around £18 billion.[1]
2. Responsibility for managing the defence estate
and ensuring that it supports the delivery of defence capability
lies with Defence Estates—until April 2007 an Agency of
the MoD and now re-integrated as part of the MoD. Defence Estates
has an annual budget of some £1.15 billion.[2]
3. We decided to conduct an inquiry into the work
of Defence Estates as part of our programme of short inquiries
into MoD Agencies (before Defence Estates lost its Agency status).
This was not intended as a comprehensive inquiry into the broad
and complex activities of Defence Estates but as an overview of
its responsibilities and performance, with a particular focus
on the standard of accommodation for Service personnel and their
families, which has been the subject of public concern.
4. We took oral evidence on 15 May 2007 from Defence
Estates management: Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, the new Chief
Executive; David Olney, Director General Operations; Bill Clark,
Agency Secretary; and Mike Martindale, Finance Director. We received
written evidence from the MoD, the Defence Manufacturers Association,
the Council for National Parks and Bob Russell MP. We undertook
visits to barracks and married quarters at Hounslow, West London,
and Pirbright, Surrey, on 24 May 2007 to see the accommodation
at these sites. We are grateful to all those who contributed to
our inquiry, and to our specialist advisers.
5. In March 2007, the National Audit Office (NAO)
published a report into Defence Estates entitled Managing the
Defence Estate: Quality and Sustainability.[3]
We have drawn on the NAO's report in this inquiry.
1 Ev 18, para 1 Back
2
Ev 18-19, paras 3 and 10 Back
3
National Audit Office, Managing the Defence Estate: Quality
and Sustainability, HC 154, Session 2006-07 Back
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