§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many empty houses and flats were owned by his Department on the latest available date; and how many were owned on the same date in each of the past eight years.
§ Mr. FreemanStatistics showing the number of empty service houses and flats and the number of empty MOD owned civilian houses and flats are held separately.
As at 30 November 1987 (the latest date for which figures are available) the total number of service houses and flats vacant was 15,801. Statistics showing the number of empty service houses and flats throughout the last eight years are only available for each year as at 31 July. This information is:
413W
Number 31 July 1980 19,400 31 July 1981 14,850 31 July 1982 13,200 31 July 1983 14,670 31 July 1984 14,527 31 July 1985 14,235 31 July 1986 14,381 31 July 1987 15,529 The number of MOD civilian houses and flats vacant on 31 March 1987 (the latest date for which these figures are available) was 353. Figures for the previous seven years are shown below:
Number 31 March 1980 313 31 March 1981 421 31 March 1982 334 31 March 1983 678 31 March 1984 496 31 March 1985 427 31 March 1986 361