§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what service housing is available to military personnel; how much has been(a) sold, (b) built and (c) improved since 1997; what plans he has to integrate military families with surrounding civilian families; and what support is available to military personnel with families unable to find suitable accommodation. [115162]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Defence Housing Executive (DHE) maintains about 50,000 family properties for allocation to Service personnel in mainland United Kingdom.
About 16,000 surplus properties have been disposed of since 1997, mainly by release to Annington Homes Ltd. to whom most of the family housing stock (other than in Scotland) had already been sold in 1996 under a sale and leaseback agreement.
Since its formation in 1995, the DHE has acquired about 2,380 new build houses for Service families in locations where existing housing was insufficient or required rebuilding.
The overall condition of the housing stock has been improved substantially. Since the formation of DHE in 1995, the number of properties at Standard 1 for Condition has risen from about 1,000 to about 21,000. This has been achieved partly through upgrade and improvement work and partly by disposal and selective rebuilding.
Service families are not left unable to find suitable accommodation. Normally DHE keeps houses waiting for people, not people waiting for houses. In the event that DHE locally has insufficient properties for entitled Service families, arrangements are made to rent additional properties from the private sector.
The substantial disposal programme for surplus MOD housing has contributed significantly to the integration of military and civilian families. Although available for the population generally, a significant minority of ex-MOD houses are believed to have been bought by Service or ex-Service personnel.