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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many homes are provided in the UK for members of the armed forces, broken down by location at which such homes are provided; and when the last time was that properties in each location were (a) surveyed and (b) inspected. [214550] Mr. Caplin: As at the end of January 2005, approximately 49,700 properties were provided for the families of armed forces personnel, located at over 600 sites across mainland United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Wales). Management of service families accommodation (SFA) is carried out by Defence Estates (DE). The housing stock is currently spread across nine regional offices, as set out in the following table. Included in the overall figures are about 1,000 substitute SFA properties, which although not managed by DE, are supplied under contract, where appropriate SFA cannot be provided from its own resources. Given the number of sites involved, the numbers of houses have been grouped on a regional basis. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Region Total SFA provided 1 Anglia (covering Norfolk and Suffolk areas) 5,750 Central (covering Bucks, Oxon, and parts of Wiltshire) 5,800 London (covering locations within the M25) 3,600 North (covering counties to the east ) 7,150 Scotland 3,900 South east (covering Portsmouth and Kent areas) 4,500 South (covering parts of Surrey, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset) 9,550 South west (covering Somerset, Cornwall and parts of Wiltshire) 5,250 West (covering Wales and the western counties) 4,200 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 As at end January 2005 The majority of the housing stock was surveyed as a single exercise in the period 1997-98 to achieve a database of the condition of the stock, and provide the necessary information for investment decisions concerning an ongoing upgrade programme. Following that major exercise, properties are subject to further survey as required, for example when a package of properties is identified for upgrading. To set out the details for each individual location would incur disproportionate effort.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c111-2W; 214550

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Armed forces Housing Location

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk