HC Deb 22 July 2002 vol 389 cc750-3W
Dr. Murrison

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, (1) pursuant to his answer of 4 July 2002,Official Report, column 525W, on married quarters, if he will make a statement on the safety attribute used by the Defence Housing Executives and if he will list the married quarters that are unsatisfactory using this criterion, indicating for what reasons; [68802]

(2) pursuant to his answer of 4 July 2002, Official Report, column 525W, on married quarters, if he will list the married quarters that fail the safety attribute; and if he will list the Standard 4 married quarters. [68803]

Dr. Moonie

The safety-related criteria used by the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) to measure performance are:

  • Upper windows—fire compliant
  • Upper windows—child safe
  • Safety of low level glazing
  • Safety gate fixings
  • Smoke detectors
  • Lockable bathroom cabinet.

Of the 5,921 service family quarters in Wiltshire, 398 do not fully meet the criteria above for Standard 1 for Condition (S1FC). 253 of these properties have one smoke detector fitted, whereas the criterion requires two. (This figure includes 83 properties which are to be handed back to Annington Homes). The remaining 143 properties do not reach S 1 FC because they do not fully meet a combination of the other criteria above. The addresses of these properties could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The location and numbers of Wiltshire married quarters which do not meet the smoke detector criterion are as follows:

Location Number of properties
Bulford 4
Colerne 1
Devizes 131
Larkhill 71
Boscombe Down 11
Tidworth 18
Upavon 31
Wroughton 152
Wilton 10
Shrivenham 20
Winterbourne Gunner 4
Total 53
1 Planned for handback

The following Wiltshire properties are at Standard 4 for Condition for the above criteria.

Location Number of properties
Devizes 2
Hullavington 2
Larkhill 16
Boscombe Down 1
Upavon 19
Wilton 4
Winterbourne Gunner 1
Total 45

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total amount spent on renting private accommodation for armed services personnel was(a) in 1999, (b) in 2000, (c) in 2001 and (d) since January 2002; and if he will make a statement. [69546]

Dr. Moonie

The tables show the expenditure on substitute service accommodation in Great Britain, rented by the Ministry of Defence from the private sector, when accommodation according to entitlement and within the travel to work zone could not otherwise be provided for service personnel and their families. The figures are available by financial rather than calendar year.

£ million
Financial year Rent Fees Other1 Total
Substitute service single accommodation (SSSA)
1998–99 13.239 0.809 0.191 14.239
1999–2000 18.506 1.004 0.344 19.854
2000–01 19.378 1.001 0.437 20.816
2001–02 21.950 1.230 0.511 23.691
April–June 2002 5.860 0.321 0.079 6.260

£ million
Financial year Rent Fees Other1 Total
Substitute service family accommodation (SSFA)
1998–99 7.020 0.197 0.019 7.236
1999–2000 8.522 0.182 0.026 8.730
2000–01 8.096 0.146 0.043 8.285
2001–02 8.859 0.196 0.039 9.094
April-June 2002 2.158 0.032 0.014 2.204
1 TV Licences, dilapidations, administration/check-in fees, inventory fees, etc.

The table excludes utilities, i.e. council tax, water, gas, electricity and telephone line rental, for which information is available by calendar year as follows:

£ million
SSSA Utilities SSFA Council tax/water
1999 3.462 1.281
2000 2.626 0.917
2001 3.729 1.109
2002 to July 2002 3.292 0.898

Dr. Murrison

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 16 July 2002,Official Report, columns 159–60W, on service accommodation, what plans he has to improve the standard of service families' accommodation in Warminster. [71554]

Dr. Moonie

The Defence Housing Executive is planning a number of minor works schemes to improve the general surroundings of the service families' accommodation in the Warminster area. These include:

  • Replacement front doors—I66 family quarters
  • External decorations—8 family quarters
  • Internal decorations to stairwells-12 blocks of flats.

In addition, the possible upgrading of some 400 family quarters is in the early planning stages.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much(a) single living accommodation and (b) service family accommodation was released to Annington Homes Ltd. in each month of 2001; what grade these were at the time of release; what percentage of the total number of upgraded homes this represents; and if he will make a statement. [70009]

Dr. Moonie

The agreement with Annington Homes Ltd. (AHL) covers service family accommodation only. Under the 1996 sale and leaseback agreement the following vacant service family quarters were handed back to AHL during 2001:

Month Number
January 41
February 204
March 2,098
August 116
September 1
October 29
December 167
Total 2,656

375 of these properties were at Standard 1 for condition at the time of release. This represented 2 per cent. of the total number of service family properties in GB at Standard 1. Whenever possible, the houses released for disposal are those at lower standards, but the sale agreement requires that properties are released in groups rather than individually. This can result in some higher standard properties being released because of their location. Defence Housing Executive area managers maintain close liaison with local service commanders on the selection of surplus properties for disposal.