§ 54. Mr. Harry EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements he intends to introduce to compensate service men stationed in Scotland who will be required to pay the community charge from 1989 while service men stationed elsewhere in the United Kingdom will not.
§ Mr. FreemanI am currently considering the implications of the community charge for British service personnel, not only in Scotland, but in England and Wales.
Service personnel who own their own homes or live in private or municipal rented accommodation will be in the same position as all other citizens liable for the community charge. The position of those living in service accommodation in Scotland and elsewhere is more complicated. The charges they pay for accommodation include an element for domestic rates. I am considering what changes need to be made to these charges in the light of the new system.