§ David HamiltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much investment was made by his Department in housing stock in 2002 in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) other countries, broken down by country. [93309]
§ Dr. MoonieThe investment made in housing stock has been interpreted to mean expenditure on service family accommodation upgrades and new build, falling within the capital departmental expenditure limit (DEL), which for financial year 2001–02 outturn was as follows:
Country Outturn for FY 2001–02 (£ million) United Kingdom 27.162 Germany 0.481 Gibraltar 1.497 Cyprus 10.771 The figure for the UK excludes some £54 million, which falls within the resource DEL, which was spent by the Defence Housing Executive on its upgrade programme. Details of expenditure in financial year 2002–03 are not currently available.
§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many empty homes his Department(a) had five years ago and (b) has now, by region; if he will establish an empty homes strategy within his Department; and if he will set a target for reduction in empty homes. [92916]
§ Dr. MoonieOn 1 April 1998 the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) had 13,235 vacant properties. By 1 April 2002 the numbers of voids had reduced to 8,852. A breakdown, by DHE region, follows:
836W
1998 2002 Eastern 2,920 1,762 Western 1,421 1,176 South East Central 1,492 1,312 South East North 2,094 743 South East South 1,605 1,369 South West 2,480 1,785 Scotland 1,223 705 Total 13,235 8,852 To provide timely accommodation for service personnel and to allow for the high mobility of service life, DHE's long-term strategy is to operate with a management margin of no more than 10 per cent. of vacant properties. The welfare of military personnel and their families is paramount: requiring families to move mid-tour to facilitate property disposals is unpopular and could ultimately affect morale and retention. Maintaining a reasonable management margin allows DHE to keep these moves to a minimum. Unlike the situation with many other housing providers, turnover of occupants is generally high, and it would be inappropriate to keep void rates very low by using waiting lists and temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfast.
One of the key targets set for DHE is to reduce the management margin progressively towards 10 per cent. by November 2005. A policy of continuous review of all quarters has secured the disposal of nearly 11,000 properties in the last three years. In accordance with wider Government policy, properties that are temporarily surplus but held for known future deployments are offered to registered social landlords, local authorities, and more recently to key workers from the fire, police, prison, NHS, and education services.