HC Deb 18 January 1967 vol 739 cc414-5
17. Mr. Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will now announce his proposals for the housing of service families returning to this country from Aden next summer.

58. Dame Joan Vickers

asked the Secretary of State for Defence in view of the general housing shortage, what arrangements he is making to ensure that families returning from Aden and Singapore have adequate housing accommodation.

Mr. Reynolds

We have been preparing our plans for the accommodation of these families for some time. In the longer term we aim to provide good permanent accommodation for all families who wish it within reasonable distance of the husband's station. We are building more married quarters, and we are buying or renting suitable houses to bridge the gap between the current needs and the completion of the building programme. If there are still not enough houses for all the families who need them immediately, we shall find other temporary accommodation for them.

Mr. Fisher

In the short term, however, is it not true that many of these families may have to be housed in hostels and caravans and, if so, for how long?

Mr. Reynolds

I do not say that this will not occur, but I would dispute the word "many" in the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question.

Dame Joan Vickers

Is the hon. Gentleman getting in touch with the local authorities to see if they could build some of these houses? Is he aware that I very much dislike, as I remember the hon. Gentleman does, the cantonment of Service families, and I hope that they will be brought into the general population?

Mr. Reynolds

Management problems become more difficult if they are scattered too much. But I take the hon. Lady's point. Quite a large number of the properties we are buying will be on housing estates at present being built by speculative builders. Therefore, the Service people will be in with the normal population of an area, with perhaps 20, 30 or 40 in one place.

Mr. Hooley

Has my right hon. Friend's Department considered using industrialised building methods to provide this kind of housing?

Mr. Reynolds

I can assure my hon. Friend that all three Services give a lead in industrialised building. The proportion of permanent married quarters being built by industrialised methods is probably greater than the building programme of any local authority in this country.