§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the last Stock Condition Survey was conducted of(a) single living accommodation and (b) service family accommodation; what conclusions were drawn as to the work required to meet the target of upgrading his Department's housing by 2003; if he will put the latest copy in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [52103]
§ Dr. MoonieAs part of the Ministry of Defence's commitment to improving single living accommodation a rolling condition revalidation programme commenced in April 2001 and the current status is:
Status Navy Complete Army Ongoing, substantially complete RAF Complete DLO Complete Central TLB Complete So far as service family accommodation in mainland UK is concerned, a stock condition survey was commissioned by the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) in mid-1997 and completed in early 1998. The task was complex, involving 650 data entries per property and full survey of 90 per cent. of the total stock of some 64,000 properties. Against an agreed standard for condition very few properties met the highest standard. DHE had already 531W embarked on a programme to refurbish all of the properties then forecast as required for the long term but, on the basis of the information contained in the survey and the amount of work required, the target date was revised from 2003 to November 2005. The survey report is now outdated, in that some 12,000 properties have since been disposed of, and significant new build and upgrade projects carried out. It would therefore be inappropriate to place a copy in the Library of the House. However, the latest information is as follows:
Number of properties Standard 1 20,699 Standard 2 26,007 Standard 3 4,877 Standard 4 349 Total 51,932