Defence Estates Organisation (Hansard, 26 April 1999)

§ Mr. Spellar

The Strategic Defence Review considered how it might improve the management of the defence estate. The review made a number of important recommendations over the Defence Estate Organisation's role. These were that the Chief Executive be made accountable to Ministers, for working with users to ensure the defence estate is managed efficiently and effectively as a whole to support the delivery of defence capability; that DEO should assume responsibility for all aspects of the disposal of surplus property programme and that the DEO should develop proposals for a new model for construction and procurement.

This places an increased burden, and a greatly enhanced role, on an organisation created in 1995 and launched as an Agency in April 1997. Following a fundamental review, in which I have been closely involved, major changes are taking place in DE to enable it to take on these new tasks, placing it at the centre of my Department's estate management matters. Most significantly, the Agency will play a key role in carrying forward the Deputy Prime Minister's rethinking construction initiative, in which the MOD will play a major part.

The programme I have endorsed will bring out major process changes that will focus the Agency on the services that it delivers to customers elsewhere in the MOD, in the process setting the Agency challenging objectives and outputs. This will provide the necessary impetus for initiatives on estate management to be developed and implemented across the MOD, with enhanced value for money from the Department's substantial investment in its estate, as a primary goal. Savings will undoubtedly accrue from this process, but at this early stage it would be imprudent to set a figure upon achievable levels. This will become more apparent as DE leads MOD through this transition period and will be reported to Parliament, year by year, as a series of targets and achievements.

We attach great importance to sending out a strong message to the MOD, the industry and others across Government, and outside, that the nature of the Agency has changed. To this end it was believed appropriate to 7W mark this evolution by relaunching as Defence Estates, supported by a new Framework Document and Corporate Plan.