Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) was a statistical and

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

unit within the MoD, initially created in 1992 from various statistics branches within the Ministry of Defence (MoD), as the Defence Analytical Services Agency. DASA was initially an

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or N ...

of the MoD but lost its agency status on 1 April 2008, becoming an administrative unit within the MOD, changing its name to Defence Analytical Services and Advice, retaining the acronym DASA. On 1 April 2013, DASA was split into two separate units within the MoD; Defence Economics and Defence Statistics. The role of DASA was to compile staffing, financial and logistical statistics to provide professional analytical, economic and statistical services and advice to the MoD, Parliament, Ministers, Senior MoD Officials and other government departments, mainly through its publication of Defence related National Statistics Publications and responses to Parliamentary Questions and ''ad hoc'' queries. DASA also provided planning and forecasting models to the British Armed Services to help to inform their decisions. In addition to this, DASA was also responsible for providing members of the public with defence related statistics through the Freedom of Information Act 2000. DASA employed a mixture of statisticians, economists, IT specialists, other analysts and specialists, and administrative staff. DASA was part of both the

Government Statistical Service The Government Statistical Service (GSS) is the community of all civil servants in the United Kingdom who work in the collection, production and communication of official statistics. It includes not only statisticians, but also economists, socia ...

and the Government Economic Service. As such, DASA Directors were usually the heads of profession for statistics and economics for the MOD. DASA had offices in six areas: the two largest were in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Bath, with smaller offices at

MoD Abbey Wood MoD Abbey Wood is a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence establishment at Filton, Bristol, United Kingdom. The purpose-built site houses the MoD's Defence Equipment and Support and Submarine Delivery Agency procurement orga ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. DASA also had personnel co-located with each of the three Armed Services at

RAF High Wycombe RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s ...

with HQ Air Command for the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

HMS Excellent A ship and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Excellent'': * was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1787. She was converted into a 58-gun fourth rate in 1820 and became a gunnery training ship in 1830. She was brok ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

with the

Navy Command Headquarters Navy Command is the current headquarters body of the Royal Navy, and as of 2012 its major organisational grouping. It is a hybrid, neither a command, nor simply an installation. Royal Navy official writings describe Navy Command Headquarters both ...

for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andove ...

with Army Headquarters for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Its former Director (previous to that Chief Executive) whilst DASA was still an Agency was Dr Mike McDowall,

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

, PhD. DASA was headed by Dr Prabhat Vaze until late 2012.

References

External links

Official website
{{United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Defence agencies of the United Kingdom Defunct executive agencies of the United Kingdom government