§ Mr. Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for War if he will give the number of married men serving in the Army in Western Germany who have their families with them and are living in caravans.
§ Mr. ProfumoThere are some 250 married men serving in the Army in the British Army of the Rhine who have their families with them living in caravans.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War to what extent waiting lists for Service accommodation have risen in the British Army of the Rhine, Germany, during the last 12 months, specifying each garrison town separately.
§ Mr. ProfumoThe extent to which waiting lists for Service acoommodation in each main garrison in the British Army of the Rhine have changed in the last twelve months is shown in the following table.
As National Servicemen, who are not entitled to married quarters, leave the British Army of the Rhine, they are being 106W replaced by Regulars, many of whom are married and entitled to married accommodation. This is why there has been an overall rise in the number of soldiers waiting for quarters in Germany in the last twelve months.
COMPARISON OF WAITING LISTS FOR DECEMBER 1961 AND NOVEMBER 1962 BY MAIN BAOR GARRISONS. Station Dec. 1961 Nov. 1962 Increase + Decrease - Adelheide 41 56 +15 Bielefeld 137 244 +107 Bunde 35 76 +41 Celle 123 144 +21 Dortmund 276 362 +86 Detmold 253 307 +54 Fallingbostel 189 314 +125 Hilden 57 80 +23 Hubbelrath 193 238 +45 Hamm 4 — -4 Herford 154 278 +124 Hildesheim 42 61 +19 Hameln 142 172 +30 Hohne 180 206 +26 Iserlohn/Menden/Wetter 314 305 -9 Lubbecke 22 31 +9 Lemgo 88 87 -1 Lippstadt 81 100 +19 Munster 348 315 -33 Minden 272 317 +45 Munsterlager 45 60 +15 Nienburg 31 164 +133 Osnabruck 431 460 +29 Rinteln 25 41 +16 Soltau 27 28 +1 Sennelager 253 325 +72 Verden 133 74 -59 Wulfen 8 16 +8 Wulfenbuttel 71 101 +30 Wuppertal 101 126 +25 Hannover 2 12 +10 Gutersloh — 5 +5 Rheindahlen 362 290 -72 Moenchengladbach 101 71 -30 Dusseldorf 41 34 -7 Krefeld 123 213 +90 Bracht 50 29 -21 Birgelen 20 58 +38 Duisburg 174 101 -73 Total 4,949 5,901 +952
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War if, in view of the many unfavourable reports on the shortage of housing in the British Army of the Rhine, Germany, and on the type of housing provided for servicemen, he will institute an inquiry to ascertain the whole picture of private and service accommodation and the steps which can be quickly taken to alleviate the situation.
107W
§ Mr. ProfumoNo. The facts are well known, and every practicable step is being taken to alleviate the situation.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War to what extent his welfare officers in the British Army of the Rhine, Germany, are meeting resistance from German landlords and hoteliers to housing British Army of the Rhine Service men.
§ Mr. ProfumoThere is a shortage of domestic accommodation in Germany and some landlords and hoteliers show an understandable reluctance to take foreign families before German ones. Apart from this there is no evidence of any resistance by German landlords and hoteliers to housing British Service men. As sometimes happens in this country, there is also a preference for families without children.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War how many caravans have been introduced into the British Army of the Rhine to house Service men; to what extent this scheme has proved a success; and whether more caravans are to be introduced.
§ Mr. ProfumoTwo hundred have been introduced officially and some 50 under unit sponsorship. As a means of speedily uniting families the scheme has been successful, and the introduction of an additional number is being urgently considered.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War how much his Department spends per year in assisting British Army of the Rhine Service men with rent and allowances.
§ Mr. ProfumoIn 1962–63 I expect that married accompanied Service men in the British Army of the Rhine will be paid some £3,100,000 in cost of living allowances. Of this amount about £735,000 can be regarded as the contribution towards accommodation expenses for some 2,600 families not provided with married quarters by my Department. A corporal with two children living with his family in a hotel draws £9 6s. 6d. a week tax free over and above the level of his emoluments in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War if he will give the total 108W waiting lists of families in the United Kingdom waiting to join their husbands in the British Army of the Rhine, and the number of families in the British Army of the Rhine waiting to be housed in Service accommodation.
§ Mr. ProfumoThe families of 58 officers and of 2,265 other ranks are waiting in the United Kingdom to join their husbands in the British Army of the Rhine. Fifty-nine officers and 2,572 other ranks are living with their families in Germany while waiting to be housed in official service accommodation.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War (1) if he will give an estimate of the number of houses required to be built to house satisfactorily all British Army of the Rhine Servicemen; where these are to be built; and when he expects to solve this housing problem;
(2) whether, in view of delays, the housing programme for the British Army of the Rhine is still estimated to be completed by 1963 as indicated in the reply to the hon. Member for Barnsley on 5th May, 1961.
§ Mr. ProfumoAs I told the House in the debate on the British Army of the Rhine on 5th July of this year, we have had to contend with a general shortage of land for building and the very severe pressure which the German building industry is under at the moment. Building work was also badly hampered by the particularly harsh weather last winter. Because of these difficulties the programme referred to in my answer of 5th May, 1961, will not now be completed until the spring of 1964.
Because of the accelerated increase in the regular strength of the British Army of the Rhine and other factors, the current programme is for a higher number of quarters than was planned when I gave my answer to the hon. Gentleman in May, 1961. On the best estimate I can now give, the bulk of the programme should be completed, and the housing question largely solved, by the end of 1964, when some 20,000 quarters should have been provided.
The quarters will be spread over about 40 locations in the British Army of the Rhine.
109W
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War what sum of money has in total been spent since the war on housing Servicemen in the British Army of the Rhine; and what further sum he estimates will need to be spent to solve the housing problem.
§ Mr. ProfumoAlmost all new married accommodation is at present provided under the multiple hirings scheme, by which German contractors build housing which my Department then rents from them. The cost of each unit approved to date under this arrangement has worked out at approximately £400 per annum.
The married quarters existing before the introduction of the multiple hirings scheme were either taken over as they stood or built from Occupation Costs. I have no record of the capital expenditure on these quarters which were paid for by the Germans.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War how many Service men's families have returned to the United Kingdom because of unsuitable accommodation, or lack of accommodation, since 5th May, 1961.
§ Mr. ProfumoI have nothing to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Gentleman on 5th May, 1961.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for War if he will give the figures of officers and other ranks, respectively, who are serving in Germany accompanied by their wives but not living in Service accommodation.
§ Mr. ProfumoIn order to unite as many families as possible in the British Army of the Rhine, families live in accommodation owned or hired by my Department, privately rented accommodation, hotels and hostels.
59 officers and 2,572 other ranks are serving in the British Army of the Rhine accompanied by their wives but are not living in Service accommodation.