Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215035936
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 90
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Book Description
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is one of the largest landowners in the UK, with a total estate (including land and property) valued at around £18 billion. Defence Estates (an Agency of the MoD until April 2007 and now re-integrated as part of the MoD) has responsibility for managing the defence estate, with an annual budget of £1.15 billion. The Committee's report examines the work of Defence Estates, focusing on the standard of accommodation for Service personnel and their families. The report highlights concerns about sub-standard accommodation, particularly in relation to the operation of the regional prime contracts for single living accommodation and the maintenance of service families accommodation under the housing prime contract. It argues that the provision of good quality accommodation for Service personnel and their families, modern and efficient office accommodation, and a well-maintained training estate, play a vital role in contributing to the effectiveness of our Armed Forces, particularly important given the current high tempo of operations. Overall, the report finds that although Defence Estates is doing much good work, there are considerable challenges ahead. A substantial increase in investment in the defence estate is required and the MoD must resist the temptation to take from the estates budget when the defence budget is stretched.
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102944679
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 56
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Book Description
The Ministry of Defence has a worldwide estate valued at some £18 billion and is the second largest landowner in the UK. The total annual operating cost of the estate was estimated at £3.3 million in 2005-06. This report, following on from an earlier report in 2005 (ISBN 9780102932768), looks at the changes introduced to reverse the deterioration in the quality of the estate and also the programme of estate rationalisation. It is in two parts, the first is entitled 'delivering an estate of the right quality' and the second 'managing, measuring and planning'. The conclusion is that new arrangements have improved the delivery of estate services, however it is still too early to say that this will result in a better quality estate. For this to happen there needs to be continued commitment, supplier innovation and client leadership, with sufficient stability of funding.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215037473
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has an extensive and complex estate of some 24,000 hectares, and after the Forestry Commission, is the second largest landowner in the UK. The estate is valued at over £18 billion and costs some £3.3 billion to operate. The estate is seen as essential to the delivery of military capability and the welfare and morale of Service personnel. This report, from the Committee of Public Accounts, has taken evidence from the MoD on the standard of living accommodation, the Department's ability to prioritise estate projects effectively, and its response to staff shortages. It follows on from an NAO report (HCP 154, session 2006-7), Managing the Defence Estate: Quality and Sustainability (ISBN 9780102944679). It sets out 9 recommendations, including: more than half of single living accommodation and over 40% of family accommodation does not meet the Department's definition of high-quality accommodation and is therefore substandard; that poor accommodation has a negative impact on retention rates; there is no information on when poor accommodation is to be upgraded, with some military personnel and their families having to continue to live in substandard housing for the next 20 years; there are gaps in the Department's understanding of estate costs; the Department employs only 56% of safety works staff and 57% of quantity surveyors that it needs; that implementing energy saving measures at its' defence sites would bring environmental benefits and savings of more than £2 million annually.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215561138
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
This report notes mounting concern that UK Armed Forces may be falling below the minimum utility required to deliver the commitments that they are currently being tasked to carry out let alone the tasks they are likely to face between 2015 to 2020 when it is acknowledged that there will be capability gaps. The Committee is concerned that UK Armed Forces will be continually operating at the maximum level envisaged by the Defence Planning Assumptions. The Committee is not convinced that this aspiration can be achieved by co-operation with our allies given the challenges of aligning political with operational needs. The SDSR identified seven military tasks and the Defence Planning Assumptions that underpin them. However the Review fails to show how decisions such as those on the Aircraft Carriers and Nimrod MRA4 will lead to the Armed Forces being able to undertake those military tasks. The Committee has serious concerns over the realisation of what is called "Future Force 2020", the Government's intended shape of the Armed Forces from 2020, particularly as the provision of the necessary resources is only a Government aspiration, not Government policy. The MoD must reform, and ensure substantially improved transparency and control over, its finance and budgetary practices. When committing to undertake new operations the Government should state from the outset where that operation fits in the Defence Planning Assumptions and which of the military tasks it is meeting. The Committee is concerned that the Government seems to have postponed the sensible aspiration of bringing commitments and resources into line, in that it has taken on the new commitment of Libya while reducing the resources available to MoD.
Author: Rona Westgate
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000289885
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 297
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Book Description
Partnering and Collaborative Working: Legal and Industry Practice brings together leading construction industry and legal experts to discuss key elements of the partnering process and how they can be implemented.
Author: Rachel Woodward
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 144439987X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
Military Geographies is about how local space, place, environment and landscape are shaped by military presence, and about how wider geographies are touched by militarism. A book about how local space, place, environment and landscape are shaped by military presence, and about how wider geographies are touched by militarism. Sets a new agenda for the study of military geography with its critical analysis of the ways in which military control over space is legitimized. Explores the ways in which militarism and military activities control development, the use of space and our understanding of place. Focuses on military lands, establishments and personnel in contemporary peacetime settings. Uses examples from Europe, North America and Australasia. Draws on original research into the mechanisms by which the British government manages the defence estate. Illustrated with maps, plans and other figures.
Author:
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136405151
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 378
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Book Description
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 800
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Book Description
Author: Ms Lori Keating
Publisher: Gower Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409459063
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
PPP/PFI contracts often share a number of features: they run over a very long period of time; they are conceived without a complete understanding of how requirements may change and despite the rhetoric they tend to create a context where dispute and litigation rather than partnership are the norm. In this environment, effective auditing is essential to ensure that projects are delivering what the end-user requires. Audits are both a public sector right, and a matter of good management sense. Performance Auditing of Public Sector Property Contracts is a practical guide to performance auditing for public sector property managers with a series of guidelines for auditors of public sector property contracts. The book concentrates on Facilities Management contracts. Lori Keating explains the basis for the process; how to retain balance, independence and rigour and how to audit intangible performance measures and other tricky areas. The book follows an audit process from commencement to conclusion, and contains a discussion of factors that contribute to the success of any audit. It is essential reading for public sector auditors, PPP project managers and contractors.
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215520890
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
Between 2001/02 and 2005/06, the Home Office spent £29.1 million planning and designing a purpose-built accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester. It was a pilot project and formed part of a wider Home Office initiative to cope with rising numbers of asylum applications by speeding up the processing of asylum claims and reducing the social tensions and the risk of fraud inherent in the way that asylum seekers were dispersed around the UK. Falling numbers of asylum applicants, a rise in the projected net cost of the planned facility at Bicester, and a general improvement in the speed of processing asylum applications under the existing system, led to the cancellation of the Bicester Centre and the shelving of the wider accommodation centre policy in June 2005. As the project was cancelled before building work began, the only benefit to the taxpayer is the semi-derelict site, valued at some £4.6 million, which remains in the Home Office's ownership. The strength of opposition to the proposed accommodation centres from national refugees groups and local resident groups, which was identified during the passage of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, was not fully reflected in the business case for Bicester. The business case also did not take into account the potential adverse impact on cost and delivery arising from a protracted planning delay. The decision by the Home Office to sign the contract with its preferred bidder before completing the outline and detailed planning processes increased the risk of nugatory expenditure. The lessons to be learnt from Bicester have wider application to government bodies planning innovative projects. These lessons include: the need to strengthen corporate governance arrangements where consultants are engaged at an early stage, to co-ordinate policy changes in different parts of an organisation together with consideration of external events, and to increase the effectiveness and scope of consultation with the local community and other stakeholders. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the committee examined the Home Office on the reasons why the cancellation of the wider accommodation centre policy resulted in nugatory expenditure of £29.1 million being noted in the Home Office's financial statements. It also examined the potential future use of the Bicester site.
