Written question asked by Jim Cunningham (Labour) on Monday, 1 November 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 3 November 2010. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Monday, 15 November 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Housing

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the expenditure required to raise the standard of service accommodation in the Falkland Islands to levels required of service accommodation in the UK.

Answer: A posting to the Falkland Islands is not permanent (being a form of operational deployment) and although the service accommodation is recognised to be at a lower standard, it is still considered to be at an acceptable level and is graded and charged for accordingly.If work were carried out to raise the standard of the accommodation in the Falkland Islands to the level expected in the UK, the cost to the public purse of the expenditure is estimated to be at least £85 million.

Secondary information