HC Deb 18 October 1949 vol 468 c456
3. Mr. A. R. W. Low

asked the Secretary of State for War how many married families, officers and other ranks, respectively, are accommodated in War Department quarters in the Suez Canal Zone; and how many live in private quarters.

Mr. Shinwell

Three hundred and sixty-six married officers' families and 484 married other ranks' families are accommodated in War Department quarters in the Suez Canal Zone. The numbers living in private quarters are 444 and 536, respectively.

Mr. Low

What is the right hon. Gentleman doing about providing more War Department quarters so that these men and their families can be properly accommodated?

Mr. Shinwell

We are doing as much as we possibly can in the circumstances. We are putting up temporary quarters which perhaps are not entirely satisfactory, but which are adequate for our purposes at the moment; and we are stepping up the provision of married quarters in all theatres as fast as we can, but it is a long-term job.