§ Baroness Anelay of St Johnsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by Lord Bach on 21 January (WA 87) and by Lord Rooker on 23 January (WA 116), what sum has been committed by the Ministry of Defence in their budget for the current financial year and the financial year 2003–04 to fund programmes which will assist with the rehousing of ex-service 198WA personnel; what programmes are currently supported by the Ministry of Defence; and what is the objective of these programmes. [HL1534]
§ Lord BachThe Ministry of Defence has committed £285,000 to preventative programmes to assist with the rehousing of ex-service personnel in the current financial year and has budgeted to commit the same resources in 2003–04.
These funds support the programmes run by the Joint Service Housing Advisory Office (JSHAO) costing £140,000 per annum, the Single Persons Accommodation Centre for Ex-Services (SPACES) costing £110,000 per annum and the Shelter Armed Forces project (A FP) at a cost of £35,000 per annum.
The JSHAO was established by MoD in 1992. The SPACES and Shelter projects arose from a joint Ministry of Defence/Office of the Deputy Prime Minister working group set up to assist the small proportion of service personnel who are vulnerable to homelessness. The working group developed a policy to ensure provision of assistance at three key stages: pre-discharge, to identify and help vulnerable people who need further support before they leave the Armed Forces; point of discharge, to develop and implement a basic housing resettlement package for vulnerable individuals; and post-discharge, to work with the voluntary sector to create an effective safety net for vulnerable and homeless ex-service personnel.
The objective of JSHAO is to provide (pre-discharge) housing information, advice and where possible placement to all service personnel and their dependants and ex-service personnel still occupying service accommodation.
The SPACES partnership with English Church Housing Group has the objective of providing single service leavers with a (primarily point of discharge) tri-service accommodation placement agency.
The Shelter AFP has the objective of providing (point of discharge) housing advice and information to those members of the services who are discharged from the Armed Forces after a period of detention at the Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC).
In addition, MoD has recently formed a partnership with ODPM, Business In the Community, the defence industry, Training for Life and other organisations in the voluntary sector to try to address post-discharge homelessness among ex-service personnel. The initiative, called "Project Compass—The Ex-Service Ready for Work Programme", was launched in November 2002 and offers new opportunities to homeless ex-service personnel by providing motivational and self-esteem training, vocational training and work placements. Those with more complex needs will also be referred to specialist assistance. One of the outcomes of this 12-month pilot project, based in London, will be a template of methodology for similar projects around the United Kingdom. Project Compass is funded by contributions from partners in the defence industry—£40,000, and—the ODPM Homelessness Directorate—£23,500.