Corporate Plan 2013-2018 - Dstl

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
Corporate Plan
2013 –18
Maximising the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK

Contents
Introduction 04
Our Purpose, Vision and Strategic Objectives 08
Positioning 10
Capability 12
Delivery 16
Critical Enablers 18
Finance 20
Implementation 22
3

Introduction
The Purpose of Dstl is to maximise the impact of
science and technology (S&T) for the defence and
security of the UK
“I am pleased to introduce
the 2013–18 Corporate
Plan for Dstl, which
describes our strategy
for delivering against our
Purpose and sets out our
Vision for our continuing
success.”
Jonathan Lyle
Dstl Chief Executive
Since our formation in 2001, we have played a critical role in Government
delivering support to the Armed Forces. This has included the planning, development
and employment of the full range of military capability, providing invaluable independent
analysis and advice to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Equipment Programme while
continuing our commitment to support military operations. Today, thanks to the
expertise and commitment of our staff and our investment in our strategic relationships,
we demonstrate impact across the full breadth of Government defence
priorities and national security challenges. Through Ploughshare Innovations
Limited and the Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE), we support the Government’s
growth agenda by investing in the development and delivery of new commercial
models that provide funding for innovative new technologies.
Across the defence and security S&T community, we are employing and developing
the capabilities needed to implement the recommendations in the National Security
Strategy (NSS) and the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 1 . In doing so,
we are extending our partnerships with industry, academia, wider Government and
our international allies by placing work externally wherever possible. As our
role becomes more consultative, partnering and collaboration will underpin our
success in delivering our role. Collaborative research will add value to all parties, and
facilitate exploration and exploitation to deliver integrated solutions.
This 2013–18 Corporate Plan sets out how we will seek to deliver even greater
impact and better value for our customers and the UK economy. We will place an
increasing percentage of the Defence S&T Programme 2 externally with industry and
academia and, while maintaining critical long-term capabilities within Government,
we plan to reduce the size of our workforce by between 15 and 20 per cent over the
next five years.
Our customers and stakeholders tell us that we provide a trusted, safe and
collaborative environment for appropriately managing and safeguarding vital
security and commercial sensitivities. We also support their needs by maintaining,
developing, and exploiting our unique defence and security S&T capabilities
and national assets to provide impact and a vital and necessary service to
Government. While doing this, health and safety is our top priority. We strive to
achieve the highest possible standards in managing safety in our most hazardous
areas and across the organisation.
4
1 H.M. Government, A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: the National Security Strategy, Cm.7953 (London: TSO,
2010) and H.M. Government, The Strategic Defence and Security Review - Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty,
Cm.7948 (London: TSO, 2010)
2 Dstl manages and delivers the majority of the Defence S&T Programme owned by the MOD Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA)

Our expert level of scientific
and analytical advice has been
available, without interruption,
to military commanders in
Afghanistan since the summer
of 2005. This is the longest
ever continuous deployment
of scientific personnel to an
overseas operational theatre
since World War II
An exercise involving 190 soldiers
as part of the British Army’s largest
ever virtual battle simulation
(URBAN WARRIOR 5), used our
advanced science and technology
advice and analysis to help the
Army better understand the
battlefield of the future
As Chief Executive, I am proud that we:
• act with integrity as the interface and agent for S&T suppliers to engage with MOD
• have an excellent track record of solving our customers’ problems with diverse and
innovative thinking and delivering timely, relevant and impartial solutions
• are flexible and agile with the ability to respond quickly to new and changing
challenges
• possess a unique breadth and depth of threat knowledge, gathered over decades
• have extensive and diverse networks of the brightest minds, continually expanding our
trusted relationships and reaching out nationally and internationally
• are strategically positioned and play a central role in influencing wider Government
defence and security S&T policy and strategy implementation
• make a difference through our committed and dedicated staff
• have a reputation as one of the most significant Government employers of S&T
professionals and regularly recognised in the Times ‘Top 100 Graduate Employers’, the
Guardian ‘UK 300’ and Job Crowd’s ‘Top 100 Companies to Work For’ polls
• have impact in the UK and overseas beyond our traditional MOD customers
• have demonstrated quality outputs and efficiency over 12 years and have been
awarded the 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Building Public Trust award for
excellence in reporting in the public sector.
We also recognise areas where we need to make improvements: to integrate
programmes designed and implemented across our portfolio of work; to increase our sharing
of knowledge and best practice across a wider community; to strengthen our procurement
capability, capacity and awareness to meet the growing demand; and to better manage our
relationships with our suppliers.
In developing this year’s Corporate Plan, we have again considered the wider external
environment and strategic context in which we operate. While the priority risks described in
the 2010 NSS remain as relevant today as when that strategy was published, the character
of each of those risks continues to change. These themes of continuity and change are
relevant to Dstl; our overriding Purpose endures but the challenges and opportunities
that we face are changing.
The main contextual challenges we face include: the ongoing efficiencies and streamlining
within MOD, central Government and the wider public sector (Transforming Defence and
the Civil Service Reform Plan); how we balance and prioritise against the reduction in
Government spending with subsequent reduced funding from our current customers, while
demand for our services remains strong; the changing nature of the wider National Security
environment (with the planned cessation of combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014);
and the potentially reduced recruitment pool of Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) skills in a competitive market for talent.
Since 2011, we have funded
56 PhDs and intend to fund a
further 20 PhDs in 2013. This
year, we are particularly interested
in Doctoral-level research
programmes on topics to improve
our understanding of human
performance and cognition
5

The first port of call for
defence and securityrelated
S&T within
Government – recognised as
a customer-focused and trusted
agent, demonstrating strong
return on investment
In achieving this we will be
agile and
interdisciplinary
– delivering solutions from the
best sources
Our
Vision
An entrepreneurial
organisation – always
on the front foot, seizing
opportunities
An employer of choice
– a diverse workforce,
recognised for our passion and
commitment to the defence and
security of the UK
6

Over the period of this Corporate Plan, we will support the successful delivery of the recommendations
in the Government’s White Paper ‘National Security Through Technology’ 3 . We will maximise the return
on investment by working more effectively with others and continue to support the growth agenda by
supporting responsible defence and security exports. We will also continue to provide support to the
implementation of the recommendations from Lord Levene’s Defence Reform Review 4 , for example,
the requirement for Evidence Based Decision Making (EBDM) across Defence and the changing MOD
governance, with a leaner, strategic Head Office setting the direction and the Commands (Front Line
Commands and Joint Forces Command) with delegated responsibility for the Equipment Programme. We
are also helping to clarify the role of S&T in the management of technical risk and the role of the intelligent
customer following the reform of Defence acquisition (Materiel Strategy).
Our Vision for Dstl (see diagram opposite) builds on the strategy identified in the previous Corporate
Plan 2012–17 and the opportunities and challenges I have outlined above.
In achieving our Vision, we will:
• be relentless in delivering impact on the highest priority issues, maximising the return on our
customers’ investments and finding new and effective ways of exploiting our unique capabilities
• provide value to the UK taxpayer, exploiting knowledge to build on previous investments, reducing
risk and highlighting our impact whenever possible
• work with others outside of Government to meet defence and security requirements, building on
the already good engagement that we have with S&T communities in the UK and around the world
• embrace both workforce diversity and diversity of thought
• demonstrate and champion transparency as an important component of the Government’s public
service reform agenda
• be entrepreneurial and demonstrate a programme of support for UK economic growth.
To realise our Vision, we believe that we best serve Government by maintaining our Trading Fund status,
driven by our customers and suppliers and guided by their feedback on our products and services.
This model allows us to continue to invest in our unique systems and facilities while ensuring that we
have robust governance mechanisms in place to control our expenditure and report openly against our
business performance. We will continue to be mindful of Ministers’ expectations concerning the future size
and shape of the Civil Service and the role of defence Civil Servants in Government.
The current and future context presents many challenges, not least economic austerity, but there are
plenty of opportunities ahead with customers within MOD, across wider Government and overseas. As we
continue to adapt our organisation at an appropriate pace, striving to do better for less, then we can be
confident about delivering our future success.
Jonathan Lyle
Dstl Chief Executive
3 Ministry of Defence, National Security Through Technology: Technology, Equipment, and Support for UK Defence and Security, Cm.8278 (London: TSO, 2012)
4 Ministry of Defence, Defence Reform - An independent report into the structure and management of the Ministry of Defence (London: TSO, 2011)
7

Our Purpose,
Vision and Strategic
Objectives
Our Strategic Framework (see diagram opposite) takes us from where we are today to where
we want to be in 2018. It sets out what we are here for (our Purpose), what we aspire to
be (our Vision), what we want to achieve (our Strategic Objectives) and how we achieve
them (our Critical Enablers)
Our Purpose is what drives us as an organisation.
We are passionate about it and take pride in how
our personal contributions make a difference to our
customers and the defence and security of the UK.
Our Vision is what we aspire to be as an organisation
over the next five years. Supported by our strategy
for getting there, our Vision builds on the strength of
our heritage, past successes and impact. In line with
Government policy, we will respond appropriately
to external challenges and opportunities, delivering
greater reach and impact with a workforce that has
the right skills and is working in the right locations on
the right problems. Our understanding of our external
environment, matched against our internal strengths
and areas we wish to improve, allows us to make
risk-informed strategic choices.
Derived from our Vision, our Strategic Objectives
in the next sections represent the areas of activity
on which we need to focus if we are to address the
challenges and opportunities posed by the external
environment.
Our Critical Enablers underpin our framework.
These elements are essential for delivering our
Purpose and our Vision effectively, and for achieving
success against our Strategic Objectives.
• An excellent, engaged and agile workforce
• A reputation for integrity and impact
• Access to appropriate facilities and infrastructure
• Safe, resilient and efficient business processes
and systems
• A procurement capability with capacity and
awareness matched to demand
• Productive networks and trusted relationships
• Effective end-to-end delivery of programmes,
portfolios and projects.
8

Strategic Objectives Vision Purpose
To maximise the impact of S&T for the defence and security of the UK
The first port of call for defence and security-related S&T within Government
Agile and interdisciplinary / Entrepreneurial organisation / Employer of choice
Positioning
To be the first port of call for
defence and security-related S&T
within Government, performing a
vital and enduring role
Capability
An agile and interdisciplinary
organisation, aligning our
capabilities with future defence
and security priorities
Delivery
An entrepreneurial
organisation, demonstrating
pull-through and exploitation
of technology and knowledge
to maximise the impact
Critical Enablers
Delivering our Purpose and ensuring we are an employer of choice
9

Positioning
To be the first port of call for defence and security-related S&T within Government,
performing a vital and enduring role
Transforming Defence is the most significant change
programme in a generation and affects everyone in Defence.
A leaner MOD Head Office will be smaller, setting stronger
direction and taking better and more responsible decisions.
The Commands will have delegated programming responsibility
for the Equipment Programme, while Defence Equipment and
Support (DE&S) will be implementing a decision on a potential
change of status after 2014.
Within the new Defence Operating Model, S&T is an important,
strategic enabler and we, as a Trading Fund of MOD, are the
primary MOD S&T agent and enabling organisation. Alongside
the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Defence Business
Services and DE&S, we are also embracing the use of Strategic
Partners from the private sector to help drive efficiency in
support of the delivery of Defence outputs. These changes will
affect aspects of our existing work and will bring opportunities
to build on our strategic enabler position to increase our impact.
As the Civil Service and MOD landscapes change and, in
line with policy commitments set out in the ‘National Security
Through Technology’ White Paper, we have a prime opportunity
to embed and expand our role as an S&T agent. We are
committed to public service and we understand the implications
for us in fulfilling our core roles for MOD. We are confident
that our performance in supporting defence and security
requirements and the wider Government growth agenda will
provide the evidence for the next quinquennial review of our
Trading Fund status in 2015.
In support of the wider Government growth agenda, we will
seek to develop opportunities to exploit S&T capabilities
to new customers by extending the supplier base for existing
products, services and the delivery of new end-to-end solutions.
We are already engaged in a range of activities that support the
policy for economic growth through:
• Ploughshare Innovations Limited and the commercial
exploitation of our intellectual property
Since our previous Corporate Plan, we have:
• provided support to customers in MOD Head Office, the Commands
and DE&S by deploying our Science Gateways to work alongside
them while they are reshaping their organisations ensuring S&T is
integral to capability planning, management and delivery
• led collaborative activity in important cross-cutting and novel areas
with other Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs) such as
the Food and Environment Research Agency supporting Counter-
Improvised Explosive Device research
• implemented a decision-making framework to decide when and how
to support responsible defence and security export opportunities
• implemented a plan to manage our important strategic
relationships with our international partners, industry, academia,
RCUK and have established a memorandum of understanding for
working with the TSB
• completed important enhancements to the CDE model,
expanding its scope to include security, and running the first
‘Marketplace’ to enable SMEs to exploit their technology through
Defence primes.
10

• the Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) and supporting
development of novel products and solutions in Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
• the Defence Suppliers Forum – Research and Development
Group to understand what the support to responsible defence
and security exports and to the growth agenda might mean for us
• the Porton Science Park based at Porton Down offering
state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and specialist support to new
and growing science companies.
The global landscape also continues to move apace, setting out
a complex environment for S&T areas to focus on across our
international relationships. Collaborative research is essential
if MOD and the UK are to maintain a technological advantage.
With finite resources and a large range of external relationships
across Dstl, we must focus our strategic relationships on
areas where we will gain maximum benefit as a central hub for
defence and security S&T across Government. Key to this will
be our collaborative working with industry, other Public Sector
organisations, our international partners, academia, the Research
Councils via RCUK and with associated organisations such as
the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). These relationships will
increase our agility, our reach and our resilience.
Over the life of this Corporate Plan (2013–18) the desired
outcomes of this Strategic Objective are in a three-point timeline
below. These outcomes will ensure that we are at the heart
of defence and security, delivering high-impact S&T. We
must stretch ourselves to ensure that we are making the most
of our capabilities to support the Government’s growth agenda
and we must mature our strategic relationships with our priority
international partners, PSREs and our academic and industrial
partners. We believe that if we succeed in our outcomes then
wider Government, our suppliers, and our partners will regard us
as the first port of call for defence and security-related S&T.
During the life of this Corporate Plan, we will:
THEME START WAYPOINT END
Strategic
Enabler
An important, strategic
enabler in the Defence
Operating Model
providing integrated
support to the
Transforming Defence
Programme
Our vital role understood and
agreed across MOD and a
new DE&S construct
Recognised across Government as the
S&T agent for defence and security
exploiting knowledge, delivering impact
and realising benefits. Supporting
technical risk management and
an intelligent customer across a
transformed MOD
Support to
Growth
Supportive of the wider
Government growth
agenda and working
with PSREs
Priority given to growth
agenda through our wider
support to responsible
exports plus important further
areas identified
Recognised across Government for
maximising impact of S&T on growth
agenda including through Ploughshare
Innovations Ltd, CDE and through
support to defence and security exports
Strategic
Relationships
Priorities for Strategic
Relationships identified
Benefits delivered by
priority actions with the
Research Councils and
international allies
Recognised across Government as the
first port of call for defence and securityrelated
S&T through our network and
integrated approach to S&T delivery
11

Capability
An agile and interdisciplinary organisation, aligning our
capabilities with future defence and security priorities
A vibrant STEM capability 5 is critical to ensuring that our front-line
forces have the best battle-winning technologies for the future.
To meet the needs of defence and security now and into the
future, we need a more integrated approach to our STEM skills
and capabilities, and those owned by our suppliers and partners.
We will reshape our capabilities to retain those areas that must be
undertaken in Government, either for reasons of sensitivity or to
retain an integrating function as an intelligent customer. However,
we will champion wider STEM capabilities (including analytical,
social and behavioural sciences), finding new and innovative ways
to make greater use of industry, academia, wider Government,
and our international partners.
We own many national assets in our facilities and our Helios 6
programme provides an opportunity to collocate some of
these to make better use of our resources. We will improve
our use of facilities across Government, industry, academia and
internationally and fully exploit our existing capabilities by, for
example, encouraging academia to work in our facilities.
We are the leading provider of analysis within Government.
Our core analysis teams will focus on the most important policy,
intelligence, and decision-support work, providing links between
MOD Head Office and the Commands and increasingly across
wider Government. Analytical work supporting equipment
decisions, cost modelling and developing software will be
delivered through growing partnerships with industry.
Since our previous Corporate Plan, we have:
• improved our understanding of our own STEM
capabilities, how they align to capability in other Government
S&T laboratories and made recommendations to make more
efficient use of resources
• identified critical suppliers of S&T capability against
some of our programmes so that we manage the external
capabilities upon which we rely
• carried out technical benchmarking against external
analysis capabilities and identified actions to focus the
development of our internal capability
• introduced the first Visiting Fellow to Dstl and reviewed
options to formalise a scheme to enhance our engagement
with academia
• committed to Knowledge Management (KM) as a strategic
priority and produced an implementation plan
• improved our workforce agility by increasing the ratio of
temporary to permanent civil servants.
5 We define capability as a combination of people (their knowledge, expertise and experience), the enabling infrastructure,
knowledge bases, licences to practice and relationships
6 The relocation of all of our activities from our site in Fort Halstead, Kent, during the next five years
12

We will work with our analytical colleagues from across defence
and wider Government, as well as academics, specialists
in industry and non-traditional sources, to identify new and
innovative approaches applicable to defence and security.
We will also seek to build capability and capacity by engaging
with the private sector on larger clusters of work rather than small
individual tasks.
Our outstanding systems capability will help to ensure that
MOD can sustain capability advantage under open procurement
principles within an affordable defence budget and that we will
be agile and resilient to shocks – prepared to deal with futures for
which we cannot plan. We will develop scientists and engineers
for the nation, returning the investment made in Dstl for the
benefit of the Government Science and Engineering community.
We are developing our cyber capability to meet increased
demand and address niche aspects of the wider Government
programme, including situational awareness and cyber defence.
By 2017, we expect to be focusing our internal resources on
operational support, working with technically capable users,
while our partners working within Dstl will oversee the technical
development of capability within industry.
We will maintain a world-class capability in Chemical
and Biological defence and security sciences and we
will maximise the exploitation of these capabilities across
Government. There is also scope to deliver work that must be
undertaken in Government more effectively across the PSREs.
During the life of this Corporate Plan, we will:
THEME START WAYPOINT END
Capability
Management
An excellent understanding of our
internal STEM capabilities
Developing our understanding of
external STEM capabilities and
health, identifying critical external
capabilities
Changes in capacity, competency
and stance of some internal STEM
capabilities completed
Greater transparency through
publication of our Technical
Strategy and recognised as
champions for sharing and
complementing external STEM
capabilities for UK benefit
Recognised as the first
port of call for defence and
security-related S&T through
exploitation of our integrated
view of defence and security
STEM capabilities with a
network of suppliers integrated
into our delivery
Knowledge
Management
Maintain corporate knowledge
base for MOD with strategy for KM
dependent on information systems
recognised as critical to the future
Knowledge capture and new ways
of working in KM piloted in targeted
areas across the defence and
security community
As a trusted agent for S&T, our
KM approaches are exploited
and shared across the widest
possible defence and security
community
Leadership
Leadership recognised as key
to engagement and business
success
Leadership framework and
succession plans implemented
Our leaders build an engaged
workforce ensuring we are an
employer of choice
HoSEP
Dstl Chief Executive established
as MOD Head of Science and
Engineering Profession (HoSEP),
Terms of Reference and MOD-wide
action plan agreed
Lead the thinking on careers
for STEM skills in Defence.
Encouraging a more diverse
workforce into defence careers with
clear career routes defined and
communicated
Challenging STEM careers
makes us an employer of
choice – a diverse workforce,
recognised for our passion and
commitment to the defence
and security of the UK
Innovation
Enhancing benefits of innovation
by becoming the focus for defence
and security S&T innovation
Innovation work exploited across
Defence S&T Programme and
beyond
Recognised across
Government as a centre for
defence and security S&T
innovation
13

Capability continued
Our priority in C4ISR 7 and sensors will be to focus
on areas that must be undertaken in Government. We will
maintain technical expertise in information and intelligence
analysis and wider sensing technologies responding to the
increasing demand to support defence intelligence. We will
leverage civilian investments in other aspects of this capability
area such as visual analytics and quantum information
systems.
We are a leading authority on integrated survivability
within Government, providing Systems Engineering solutions
and advice in all operational environments and working
with technical expertise from a wide network of industrial,
international and academic suppliers. Our core teams will
focus on the most sensitive and specialist work that cannot be
undertaken outside Government, for example in the key areas
of signature management, passive and active protection and
balancing across information system options. We will continue
to act as MOD’s technical authority for armour, concentrating
on numerical simulation and modelling.
We will establish and develop our social and behavioural
science hub, accessing the best from outside Government to
work alongside our specialists.
We will lead and develop the creation of a Centre for
Innovation, using Horizon Scanning to identify future trends
and shape Defence S&T Programme requirements. The
Centre will encourage our workforce to seize opportunities to
work with the ‘best of the best’ to solve the biggest future
S&T challenges that face MOD. We will focus on areas such
as advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, precision
navigation and timing. In other areas, such as autonomy and
intelligence, quantum phenomena and synthetic biology,
others will take the lead and we will track developments.
Achieving the right mix of skills in our delivery community will
be a challenging task. The skills and competencies of our
people will need to adapt in line with S&T capability needs
and wider Civil Service STEM initiatives. We are monitoring the
need to maintain Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person
7 Command, Control, Communication and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (C4ISR)
14

capabilities in a transformed MOD and any potential increased
demand on us for engineering and wider-applied STEM skills.
We will deploy more staff away from our core sites to
provide integrated advice and reach-back into our organisation.
Skills in technical consultancy and problem-solving will be
essential to work with a broader range of customers and to
exploit the work we do to increase its impact. Our people
will need the analytical and technical skills to provide MOD
with cost reduction and through-life advice and solutions.
These skills will be aimed at getting the most out of what we
have while maintaining in-depth technical expertise in niche
capabilities. We will need to develop skills and mechanisms for
greater openness and contractual skills to do this.
In all that we do, knowledge is our primary output and, as
such, Knowledge Management (KM) is vital. By exploiting
our knowledge, built on previous investments, we can provide
impact by reducing risk in future programmes and provide
value to the UK taxpayer. As our organisation transforms and
we make greater use of external suppliers, implementing the
improvements set out in our KM strategy in terms of people
and technology will be a high priority.
Flexibility, responsiveness and the desire to work beyond
traditional boundaries will be the signature of Dstl.
The desired outcomes of this Strategic Objective are in a
three-point timeline on page 13. We will use our unique insight
into the technical challenges for defence and security to drive
decisions regarding the shape and size of our capabilities.
We will publish our Technical Strategy, enabling our partners
and suppliers to engage more strategically with us while we
seek access to the S&T capabilities in those organisations.
We are committed to reducing the size our workforce by
between 15 and 20 per cent over the next five years. Together,
these outcomes will drive us to working in a more agile and
interdisciplinary way, delivering solutions from the best and
most appropriate sources.
15

Delivery
An entrepreneurial organisation, demonstrating pull-through and
exploitation of technology and knowledge to maximise the impact
The defence and security environment is changing. The
upcoming cessation of combat operations in Afghanistan in
2014 and evolving NSS risks will affect S&T priorities as
set out in the ‘National Security Through Technology’
White Paper. Significant change programmes are under
way within MOD (Transforming Defence), public sector and
central Government (Civil Service Reform) aimed at delivering
efficiencies, streamlining and reducing the financial deficit.
The Government has committed to sustain investment in Defence
S&T in a challenging economic environment. Prioritising this
investment and planning, formulating and delivering a
high-impact programme across this changing defence and
security environment, while working alongside the Defence S&T
strategy team, remains a core element of our work.
It is important that we recognise our customers’ needs and the
strategic issues they face. In the light of the change programmes
under way in their organisations, we are changing the way we
interface with our customers. Through the introduction of
Account Managers and their enhanced understanding of our
customers’ needs, we will shape and influence policy, priorities
and our partners to optimise the exploitation and gearing derived
from investment in S&T.
We will broaden the customer base for the capabilities that we
deliver and the services we provide as a trusted S&T agent. We
will develop stronger relationships with our suppliers, working in
open partnership with them, shaping the market and continuing
to place work externally wherever possible.
We recognise that in order to deliver the best value for our
customers we need to improve the way we deliver our work.
We will implement a robust and agile triage process to allow
us to prioritise the work we do. All work will be prioritised
through our account management process and as part of this
simplified delivery process, requirements will be met through
the management of high-impact, coherent programmes,
delivering clearly articulated benefits to our customers and
stakeholders. We continue to achieve these benefits by
Since our previous Corporate Plan, we have:
• introduced EBDM to the Defence Board as a tool for use when
making decisions
• exploited open architectures into land vehicles and developed a
tool to inform procurement decisions of the potential cost savings.
The tool has also showed the effectiveness of using off-the-shelf
Combat Management System consoles in the Type 26 Global
Combat Ship – which could result in significant savings
• provided key independent airworthiness advice to the
Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter programme, contributing to the
body of evidence required to grant Military Flight Test Permits for
the first two UK aircraft
• established a respected reputation for the delivery of high impact
S&T in support of operations and helped to deliver a safe and
secure Olympics
• communicated the priorities and procurement criteria for
deciding where to source S&T
• delivered, on behalf of the MOD CSA, a Defence S&T Programme
aligned to the ‘National Security Through Technology’ White Paper
with 60 per cent subcontracted to industry and academia.
16

working collaboratively in partnerships across and beyond
Government and we are recognised for our approach within the
public and private sectors.
We will face a diverse range of challenges over the next five
years, many of which we cannot foresee. However, as examples
of significant impact, we plan to:
• provide key evidence to policy makers to support the
decisions for the next SDSR, MOD’s Annual Business Cycle, the
military New Employment Model, the Armed Forces covenant
and the increased use of Reserve Forces
• provide S&T advice to enable the planned drawdown from
combat operations in Afghanistan including logistics planning,
the support for any residual presence and the transition to
contingent operations
• prepare the way for a major collaborative demonstration
programme to develop the next generation of air
combat capability
• build on the Olympics experience and provide technical advice
to support the security and successful operation of major
events (for example the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games)
and provide expertise to wider Government
• in support of the International Defence Engagement
Strategy and International Research Collaboration we will
work with policy setters to achieve maximum value from S&T.
The desired outcomes of this Strategic Objective are in a
three-point timeline below. We will be proactive and more
entrepreneurial. We will continually look for opportunities to
maximise the impact of S&T across a broader range of customers
on a wider range of S&T challenges with the best sourced
solutions. Our priorities will be to support current and contingent
defence and security operations, to benefit economic austerity
and prosperity through cost reductions for Government, and to
support Intellectual Property generation and responsible exports.
We will be better at prioritising our work through the strategic
triaging of opportunities informed by a data-driven sales plan.
During the life of this Corporate Plan, we will:
THEME START WAYPOINT END
Customer
Engagement
Strong reputation with customers
for impact and delivery. Lessons
identified from pilots in managing
successful programmes
and operating an account
management process
Reputation with customers
maintained as we implement
change programme in line with
Transforming Defence and wider
Government policy to further
improve customer experience
Excellent reputation as the
first port of call for defence
and security-related S&T for
delivering impact and adding
value with a wider range of
customers across Government
Supplier
Engagement
Immature supplier management
capability with suppliers unaware
of all future opportunities
Key Supplier Management for Top
20 suppliers
Timely access to required
external capability.
Recognised as trusted agent
for S&T by suppliers
Programme
Formulation
Realigning projects at programme
level to leverage across Defence
S&T Programme and beyond
Improved programme management
and rapid triage against priorities
Opportunities seized routinely
with delivery focused around
cost effective programme
outcomes and benefits
Delivery in
Partnership
Some programmes delivered
collaboratively, especially with
international partners
Stronger relationships with national
partners
Majority of programmes
delivered jointly in collaboration
with industrial, national and
international partners
Technology
Advice and
Services
Our national assets and unique
technical services maintained,
funded and delivered successfully
through separate service models
Advice and services embedded in
capability delivered programmes
with utilisation managed
Advice and services delivered
co-operatively, efficiently and at
high utilisation
17

Critical Enablers
Delivering our Purpose and ensuring we are an employer of choice
We believe in the vital role of public servants in undertaking
the work we deliver in direct support of our customers in
MOD, across wider Government and with trusted international
partners. Central to this is an excellent, engaged and agile
workforce that is the right shape and size, working in the right
locations and answering the right problems. Since 2001, our
status as a Trading Fund of MOD has given us the ability to
do that effectively and efficiently, maintaining a strong profile
within the defence and security community with a reputation
for integrity and impact. These Critical Enablers set out the
elements of the business that are essential to delivering our
Purpose effectively, without which our likelihood of achieving our
Strategic Objectives would reduce significantly.
The continued planning for our Helios programme and the
current economic climate mean that we need to drive for
efficient solutions while ensuring access to appropriate
facilities and infrastructure. We will continue to look for every
opportunity to do things more efficiently with the capabilities
provided by our Strategic Partners, Steria and Serco.
To improve both our own use of information as well as
its exploitation in wider Government, we will continue to
ensure the safe, resilient and efficient operation of our
business processes and systems. We will also address the
opportunities afforded within Civil Service Reform including
the new Government ‘Digital by Default’ strategy. To support
our Vision we will implement a procurement capability with
capacity and awareness matched to demand, seeking
to improve our management of suppliers and update our
procurement strategy to align with our evolved role as MOD’s
S&T agent.
Since our previous Corporate Plan, we have:
• maintained sound financial management to allow us to initiate
our Helios programme, funded from our own capital investment
programme
• been awarded the 2012 PwC Building Public Trust award for
excellence in reporting in the public sector
• realigned our Infrastructure Portfolio Management Office to
provide oversight of a balanced and prioritised portfolio of
infrastructure-based projects
• optimised our assurance framework around our important
strategic risks and transformed our approach to internal control,
operation and assurance
• worked with our strategic service partners to improve efficiency
and asset utilisation
• realigned our Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
internal support and conducted a workforce survey to baseline
and improve our organisational SHEF culture and better enable us
to operate safely
• successfully completed safety audits of the majority of our
hazard areas with corrective action in place where required.
18

Our productive networks and trusted relationships enhance
the value of our investment in S&T and provide advantage with
our national and international partners.
Our effective end-to-end delivery of programmes,
portfolios and projects will enable us to deliver a high-impact
S&T programme across a changing defence and security
environment.
The desired outcomes of these Critical Enablers are in a
three-point timeline below. Our people are our most valued
asset and we are committed to investing in their leadership
development and their technical and professional skills, ensuring
we become an employer of choice. We are committed to
maximising the diversity of our workforce and giving our
talented people the best chance of career progression and
personal development in a safe and secure environment. As
an effective and efficient organisation, continually seeking
improvement, we will complete our Helios programme and
markedly improve our commercial and information systems.
These activities will enable us to work successfully and share
knowledge in a much more effective way than today.
Achieving these outcomes is critical to our agility, our ability to
seize opportunities and to enable our passionate and committed
workforce, suppliers and partners, to maximise the impact of S&T.
During the life of this Corporate Plan, we will:
THEME START WAYPOINT END
Effective
and Efficient
Organisation
Helios programme initiated with
associated staff relocation
under way
Helios build programme
commenced, core capabilities
and all staff transitioned from Fort
Halstead site
Effective, efficient and integrated
organisation operating from our
reduced core sites
Procurement
Capability
Commercial capacity adequate to
meet overall demands of current
work but improvements needed to
realise our Vision
Procurement strategy
implemented, contracting
consolidated and commercial
awareness of all staff improved
The first port of call for defence and
security-related S&T and trusted
S&T agent status underpinned by
procurement capability, capacity and
awareness that is matched to demand
with supply chain interface managed
Information
Systems
Information systems adequate
for our current requirement but
investment and innovation required
to realise our Vision
Key investments supported
with prioritisation of information
systems to support knowledge
management and exploitation
Information systems enabled that support
our ability to be an entrepreneurial
organisation and seize new opportunities,
be transparent and share knowledge as a
trusted agent of S&T
SHEF and
Resilience
Safe, secure and resilient
organisation actively reviewing
baseline policy and processes and
setting targets to address changing
Government needs
Implementation of new safety
culture targets completed and a
proactive, risk-informed approach
to all our site operations
A learning organisation that proactively
addresses safety, environmental and
resilience issues
Civil Service
Reform
Implementation of changes driven
by Civil Service Reform commenced
with further work under way to
access impact
Revisions to services agreed and
our processes improved in line with
our Vision and Civil Service Reform
An integrated organisation taking and
offering services to the Civil Service
with the infrastructure that supports
integrated working
Strategic
Partners
Strategy developed to optimise
relationship with Serco and Steria
with new performance indicators to
emphasis partnership and shared
responsibility
Strategic Partners proactively
shape planning with us to provide
timely enabling services efficiently
Strategic Partners operating in an
integrated organisation as part of our
delivery enabling our Vision
Regulation
Maintain regulatory compliance
while continually seeking areas for
improvement
Reduce any residual risks
associated with maintaining
compliance
Recognised across Government
for pro-activity and best practice in
regulatory compliance
19

Finance
Our principal financial objectives are to meet our obligations
to MOD and to self-fund our investment programme
All figures in (£) million Forecast Plan
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Total sales 621 637 597 582 583 582
Operating profit 28 27 24 16 18 24
Capital investment 16 45 43 29 22 26
End of year cash balance 104 81 58 45 41 44
All figures are presented in real terms at 2013/14 monetary values and no inflation is built into future years
We are obligated to pay dividends and
interest to MOD that, taken together,
represent a 3.5 per cent Return on Capital
Employed (ROCE). These objectives will be
achieved by sustaining adequate levels of
profitability and cash flow.
Future cash flows are ahead of last year’s
plan in the short term and in line with
previous projections from 2017 onwards
after completion of the relocation from our
Fort Halstead site (Helios programme). The
cumulative profit and cash performance
remains sufficient to fund the necessary
capital investment to deliver Helios.
Declining profits up to 2017 are a reflection
of income reducing faster than Dstl can
reduce its fixed cost base. The full financial
benefits of site rationalisation under Helios
are realised from 2018 onwards.
Sales
We derive sales revenue from work
subcontracted to third parties, from work
carried out by our staff and from the
use of our specialist facilities. Demand
has remained high despite the budget
pressures on our customers, mainly those
from MOD and wider Government.
Sales projections are a best estimate
based on the information available at the
time of writing this Corporate Plan. Due
to the Transforming Defence programme,
there remains a high degree of uncertainty
and volatility in MOD. Our agility as a
Trading Fund means that variations in
sales are matched by corresponding
variations in costs, with a much smaller net
impact on profit and cash.
- Defence S&T Programme
The Defence S&T Programme will continue
to be a very significant element of our
work and the overall Programme budget
will decline further in Year 1 of this plan.
Our intention to increase the proportion
of the Defence S&T Programme that is
subcontracted through the private sector
and academia causes an additional
reduction in our net income.
- Support to Current Operations
Sales will decline further because of
reduced support to current military
operations in Afghanistan over the next
two years, coupled with cessation of direct
supplementary funding from HM Treasury.
The Defence S&T Programme will fund
future support to contingency planning.
- Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)
Further uncertainties are caused by
changes under MOD’s Transforming
Defence programme, with the future of
DE&S still under review. While there are
short-term opportunities arising from
acquisition reform, our longer-term support
to the Equipment Programme is expected
to decline over the period of this plan.
- Wider Government
Aggregated demand from wider
Government and non-Exchequer sources
is expected to sustain but UK public
sector budgets remain under pressure and
security-related expenditure may no longer
be prioritised. While we have seen an
increasing demand for some capabilities,
such as EBDM, the focus will be on
working with others and burden-sharing to
achieve greater value for money.
Our staff charge rates have not been
increased in cash terms since 1 April
2009. Through the life of this plan, we
intend to increase our staff charge rates in
line with inflation 8 . The fee (profit margin)
on our ascertained cost work remains at
3 per cent and no further changes in fee
rate structure are currently planned.
Operating costs
Our operating costs are expected to
decline as the volume of internally
delivered work falls. Two thirds of our
operating costs relate to staff, and we
plan for the average total workforce to
reduce by between 15 and 20 per cent
over the next five years. Civil Service
recruitment controls and pay restraints
remain in place in the short to medium
term. Our continued use of contractors
and fixed-term appointments will give us
the opportunity to flex the total workforce
in line with varying demand, without
8 As measured by the HM Treasury Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Deflator index
20

Capital Investment Profile 2013–18
Closing cash balance over the next nine years
(£) million
50
40
30
(£) million
120
100
80
20
10
60
40
20
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Total planned capital expenditure over the next five years
Last year’s plan
Base Case
increasing the underlying permanent
headcount.
We continue to review the value of all our
operating expenditure. The Helios site
rationalisation programme is expected to
deliver annual cost reductions of
£12 million from 2018 onwards, with
some early savings realised in 2017 as
vacation of our Fort Halstead site occurs.
The consolidation from three to two core
sites is a major contributor to our future
operational efficiency.
The majority of our non-staff operating
costs are sourced through our principal
service contracts (Steria and Serco)
for information systems and facilities
management support. These are under
continuing review to ensure they provide
the required mix of services at a price that
represents good value. Depreciation is
expected to rise from £13 million in 2013
to more than £20 million by 2018 due to
planned capital investment.
Capital investment
Total planned capital expenditure until
2018 is £165 million, of which £51 million
is directly attributable to the Helios
programme. The final costed designs for
new facilities under Helios are expected
in autumn 2013 with construction starting
in early 2014. Early staff relocations have
already commenced and we are using
flexible desk-sharing arrangements to
ensure the relocated workforce can be
accommodated within existing working
environments.
£38 million of our planned capital
expenditure relates to important enabling
projects at our Porton Down site. The
scope of these planned investments
(which pre-date Helios) has been updated
to ensure the existing infrastructure
is scaled up where necessary to
accommodate increased staff numbers on
site and that it meets the requirements of
specialist facilities transferring from
Fort Halstead.
Of the remaining £76 million, we continue
to focus our investment priorities on:
• development of our business systems
and telecommunications technology to
underpin improved ways of working and
process efficiency
• maintenance and replacement of important
technical facilities where we are a provider
of a nationally critical or niche capability
• infrastructure to sustain regulatory
compliance and our ‘licence to operate’
in certain fields, and to reduce energy
consumption
• development of new capabilities to deliver
the business of the future.
Funding and cash flow
We continue to be partially funded by a
£32 million loan from MOD, which is being
repaid over 10 years up to 2020. No
additional funding is assumed over the life
of this plan. Our planned interest, dividend
and loan repayments to MOD amount to an
average of more than £14 million per year,
totalling £72 million over the plan period.
Profitability and the level of capital investment
principally drive cash flow, with working
capital fluctuations being neutral over time.
The sustained high level of investment
associated with the Helios programme over
the next four years, coupled with falling
profitability as net income falls, causes a
decline in our cash balances.
Our financial viability has been tested by
ensuring that our cash balance remains
positive despite a further potential downturn
in revenue coupled with a more costly
investment programme. As described in
our Strategic Objectives, there are also
opportunities that could result in improved
trading performance if we undertake additional
activity consistent with our Purpose.
Once the cost savings from site
rationalisation are fully realised, our cash
balance recovers rapidly and gives us the
opportunity to undertake further investment
or share the benefits of a reduced cost base
with our customers and MOD.
21

Implementation
At the heart of our strategy planning is strategic risk management,
helping to make well-informed choices. The Dstl Business Plan
2013/14 will support the aims of this Corporate Plan, setting
out how we intend to deliver and measure our progress
Strategic Objectives
Positioning
To be the first port of call for
defence and security-related S&T
within Government, performing a
vital and enduring role
Capability
An agile and interdisciplinary
organisation, aligning our
capabilities with future defence
and security priorities
Delivery
An entrepreneurial organisation,
demonstrating pull-through and
exploitation of technology and
knowledge to maximise the impact
Critical Enablers
Delivering our Purpose and ensuring we are an employer of choice
Implementation Plans
Our Chief Executive holds our Directors to account for
delivery of both the transactional daily business and
the transformational change activities through a set of
Implementation Plans. These plans will form the heart of
our Business Plan for the first year of this Corporate Plan.
Good governance will require clear and delegated authority
with responsibility given to those being held accountable.
Our Directors will require the support of their senior
management teams to deliver our strategy throughout
the organisation. This governance will give them the
necessary authority and responsibility to deliver in the best
way possible.
We maintain a Corporate Risk Register containing all risks
of a strategic nature with clear ownership by our Executive.
The principal risks to the successful delivery of this plan are:
• lack of organisational agility means we cannot
respond effectively to key priorities and events with
sufficient pace
• insufficient knowledge of the wider capability base
we can access now, and in the future, leads to
incorrect divestment and investment decisions
• insufficient investment in our knowledge and
information management capability (including
behaviours, communications, systems and
processes) prevents access to and exploitation of
our broader network
• failure to complete and deliver the benefits of our
Helios programme prevents the effective, efficient
and integrated operation from our reduced
core sites.
22

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