§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) Army, (b) Navy and (c) RAF officers live in privately-rented accommodation funded by his Department; how much this has cost in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [118060]
§ Dr. MoonieIt is a condition of service that Service personnel are provided with publicly funded accommodation at or within an appropriate distance from their place of duty. When family and single accommodation is not available, suitable equivalent property is rented from the commercial rental market. Until 1 February 1997, MOD satisfied this requirement in GB through the payment of an allowance to personnel to enable them to find rented accommodation under private arrangements (Excess Rent Allowance for family accommodation and Lodging Allowance for single accommodation). However, with effect from 1 February 1997, MOD established an Accommodation Agency which utilises an MOD contractor to obtain equivalent rented accommodation for Service personnel. This has since superseded the allowance regimes.
17WAs at 31 March 2000, there were 1,943 officers in occupation of rented family and single accommodation in GB. The breakdown by Service is as follows:
Number RN 876 Army 709 RAF 358 Total 1,943 The cost to the Department of providing rented accommodation throughout GB is only available for the last three Financial Years following the formation of the Defence Housing Executive and the MOD Accommodation Agency, and these are summarised in the table. The figures represent the full cost of providing rented accommodation for all ranks since it is not possible to extract the costs for officers alone. Prior to FY 1997–98 costs for Excess Rent Allowance and Lodging Allowance were met by respective budget holders. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost:
£ million Financial year Total cost per FY 1997–98 44.9 1998–99 45.5 1999–20001 49.8 1 Estimated