§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many dwellings owned by his Department are currently unoccupied in the counties of(a) Hampshire, (b) Lancashire and (c) Avon; and how many dwellings owned by his Department have been unoccupied for six months or more in each of these counties. [1222]
§ Mr. SoamesAs at 30 September 1995, my Department owned the following empty dwellings in the counties named:
- Hampshire: 1,152
- Lancashire: 25
- Avon: 93
Information on properties unoccupied for six months or more is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many dwellings owned by his Department are currently unoccupied; and how many dwellings owned by his Department have been occupied for six months or more. [1336]
§ Mr. SoamesAs at 30 September 1995, my Department owned 14,098 vacant dwellings, of which 13,898 were service families quarters and 200 were MOD civilian houses. Of these, 3,202 vacant service quarters and 55 civilian houses were in the process of being sold. The majority of the remainder of the service quarters were either awaiting major maintenance work, held for unit deployments, already allocated to service families due to move in shortly or formed part of the management margin needed to ensure that accommodation is available to house entitled service personnel. The majority of the vacant civilian houses could not be disposed of for security reasons. Information on properties unoccupied for six months or more is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
From the total of 13,898 empty properties, a further number of houses is being identified for future disposal.