§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure was made by his Department on developing proposals for the creation of the housing trust for the disposal of married quarters.
§ Mr. SoamesMy noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence will write to the hon. Member.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Milton Keynes, North-East (Mr. Butler) of 8 December 1994,Official Report, column 303, how much money the contract won buy the investment bank, Nat West Markets, for the development of further proposals for the transfer of the married quarters estate is worth.
§ Mr. SoamesThe price of this contract is commercially confidential.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many units the married housing quarters estate owned by his Department consists of; and what proportion of the estate is currently empty.
§ Mr. SoamesAs at 30 September, the married quarter housing estate owned by my Department consisted of 73,595 properties, of which 11,729 were vacant. Included in these figures were 2,744 properties in the process of sale, of which 2,014 were vacant. The majority of the other empty properties were undergoing or awaiting major maintenance, held for future deployments, or formed part of the management margin needed to ensure that accommodation is available for entitled service families.