Download or read book A defence estate of the right size to meet operational needs written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-07-09 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ministry of Defence, one of the largest landowners in the UK, has strengthened its estate planning and achieved significant receipts from disposal of property but the changes are not yet sufficient to drive value for money for the taxpayer rigorously. While the defence estate primarily exists to support defence capabilities, the Department has not matched its focus on operational needs with enough attention to efficient use of its estate assets and to reducing costs. This report acknowledges that, between 1998 and 2008, the MOD identified and took opportunities to rationalise that part of its UK estate not needed for training, generating £3.4 billion from the sale of surplus property. Nevertheless, over the same period the Department reduced the number of civilian and military personnel three times faster than it reduced its built estate. This raises a clear question about whether there are opportunities to reduce the estate further and secure cost savings and further disposal receipts. The NAO also concludes that the Department's process for categorising sites is rightly driven by operational requirements but it does not give sufficient weight to other factors such as how heavily a site is used, running costs, or potential income from sale. The MOD also lacks sufficient data centrally to conduct the necessary analysis to help it reduce costs in a structured way. This report identified five categories of information needed to identify the scope for further estate rationalisation: operational importance; utilisation; condition; potential value; and running costs.

Download or read book Managing the Defence Estate written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-05-25 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report looks at the management by the Defence Estates Agency, of the land and property owned by the Ministry of Defence. The estate is worth some £15.3 billion, and costs £1.3 billion to run, with the MoD as one of the largest landowners in the UK with land covering some 240,000 hectares. The Estate itself consists of such facilities as barracks, depots, aircraft hangers and naval bases, as well as training grounds and ranges. Also the MoD has direct managerial responsibility for 200 sites of special scientific interest, along with responsibility for over 1600 listed buildings and monuments. The NAO recognizes the operational challenges of managing such a large utility, but commends the MoD for developing a strategy that saw contractual arrangements deliver higher quality and estate rationalization, along with improved customer satisfaction. There had been a deterioration in the estate due to shortfalls in spending, and the use of traditional methods in the procuring and managing of estate services. The selling off of surplus land has earned the MoD £1.2 billion, and five new regional contracts have been signed to improve the estate. Insufficient funding due to conflicting defence priorities may hamper long-term efficiencies, and that there is more to be done to consolidate recent cultural changes in the organization of contracts for running the estate, especially the move towards large centrally-managed contracts.

Download or read book The work of Defence Estates written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-09-14 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Building for the future written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-04-20 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the extent to which government departments and executive agencies are meeting targets to make their new buildings and major refurbishments more sustainable. Each year departments and agencies spend in the region of £3 billion on these projects, and if sustainability is handled well, it can and should provide better value for money in the long term. Key findings include: i) government is failing to meet the sustainability standards it has set for the construction and refurbishment of buildings on the government estate, as well as for sustainable operations targets set for carbon emissions, energy and water consumption; and ii) various barriers are hindering progress towards more sustainable buildings, including the fragmentation of policy responsibility among government bodies for improving sustainable construction and refurbishment, the absence of a coherent approach to monitoring progress and ensuring compliance, and the widespread perception of a conflict between sustainability and value for money.

Download or read book Managing the defence estate written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-11-29 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Strategic Defence and Security Review and the National Security Strategy written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Good governance and civil service reform written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-07-18 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report on an evaluation of Whitehall departments' plans for structural change in response to the twin challenges of major public service reform and significantly reduced administrative budgets.The Committee expresses concern that the centre of Government, notably the Treasury and the Cabinet Office, is providing neither strategic leadership nor a governance framework to departments in managing their change programmes. The demand is immediate for an all encompassing strategic approach to change, minimising disaggregation and ensuring a 'joined up Government' approach."

Download or read book Australian Contributions to Strategic and Military Geography written by Stuart Pearson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing from military geography’s spatial roots, its embrace of dynamic systems, and integration of human and biophysical environments, this book helps in understanding the value of analyzing patterns, processes and systems, and cross-scale and multi-disciplinary ways of acting in a complex world, while making the case for a resurgence of strategic and military geography in Australia. Here, leading experts demonstrate that geography retains its relevance in clarifying the scale and dynamics of defense activities in assessments of the international, regional, national, and site impacts of changes in physical, cyber and human geographies. The cases presented show Australia contributing to a growing strategic and military geography.

Download or read book The Armed Forces of the United Kingdom 2014 2015 written by Charles Hayman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-02-10 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has been published at regular intervals during the last 20 years, and the latest 2014 _ 2015 addition is the one that deals with the most far reaching changes the UK Armed Forces have gone through for a generation. Although the UK's Armed Forces

Download or read book The work of the Committee in 2007 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Defence Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-01-31 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report sets out the work of the Committee during 2007. The report highlights aspects of the Committee's working practices which depart from previous practice or which may otherwise be of interest. In particular it draws attention to the webforum held during its inquiry into Medical Care for the Armed Forces; its taking of evidence outside Westminster, in Birmingham and Edinburgh; and the growing amount of informal activities of the Committee. It also underlines the importance of visits to the Armed Forces on operational deployments. Whilst the MoD was commended for overall timeliness in responding to the Committee's inquiries, in one inquiry: 'UK Defence: commitments and resources'; there was a delay which hindered the progress of the Committee

Download or read book Becoming an Archaeologist written by Joe Flatman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Becoming an Archaeologist: A Guide to Professional Pathways is an engaging handbook on career paths in the area of archaeology. It outlines in straightforward fashion the entire process of getting a job in archaeology, including the various options; the training that is required; and how to get positions in the academic, commercial and government worlds. It also includes discussion of careers in related heritage professions such as museums and conservation societies. The book includes a series of interviews with real archaeologists, all young professionals who began their careers within the last ten years. These insider guides offer essential tips on how they got their first job and progressed in their careers. Written in an accessible style, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in the realities of archaeology in the 21st century.

Download or read book Total Facilities Management written by Brian Atkin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-09-08 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridging the gap between the theory of facilities management and its implementation, this book raises issues which all practitioners should consider before embarking on a particular plan.

Download or read book Construction Cost Management written by Keith Potts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this updated and expanded second edition, Keith Potts and Nii Ankrah examine key issues in construction cost management across the building and civil engineering sectors, both in the UK and overseas. Best practice from pre-contract to post-contract phases of the project life-cycle are illustrated using major projects such as Heathrow Terminal 5, Crossrail and the London 2012 Olympics as case studies. More worked examples, legal cases, case studies and current research have been introduced to cover every aspect of the cost manager’s role. Whole-life costing, value management, and risk management are also addressed, and self-test questions at the end of each chapter support independent learning. This comprehensive book is essential reading for students on surveying and construction management programmes, as well as built environment practitioners with cost or project management responsibilities.

Download or read book Defence Annual Report written by Australia. Department of Defence and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book GIS in Land and Property Management written by Peter Wyatt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2003 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introduction explains how to use geographical information systems (GIS), both in practice and in principle.

Download or read book Management of Procurement written by Denise Bower and published by Thomas Telford. This book was released on 2003-01-08 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This invaluable book covers all aspects of procurement, from drafting and using contracts to procurement strategies for privately financed projects. It is written from a construction perspective, and uses examples from other industries where appropriate. This essential book offer presents guidance, explanations and case studies to help the reader comprehend the strengths and weaknesses and realistic meanings and outcomes of the stages in the development of an effective procurement strategy. Bringing together the theory and practice that relates to procurement, the book offers guidance on show the process should be undertaken. It begins by outlining the role of procurement in the construction industry, including the problems it faces and some of the steps that can be taken to overcome these problems. It then goes on to consider contractor selection and raises issues relating to the allocation of risk in contracts and factors to consider when awarding a contract. A brief summary of the relevant legal aspects is also provided. The book also examines contract strategy, major organisational arrangements and payment types and prvides a summary of the key features of the most common standard forms of contract. The relationship between benchmarking, key performance indicators and incentives is explained and a framework for developing incentive mechanisms is provided.

Download or read book Performance Auditing of Public Sector Property Contracts written by Ms Lori Keating and published by Gower Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.