Armed Forces : Housing
6th September 2010
Dr Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence:
(1) how many housing units there are for staff use at his Department's Abbey Wood site;
(2) what expenditure his Department incurred on the provision of each type of housing for each rank of personnel at its Abbey Wood site in the latest period for which figures are available.
Mr Gerald Howarth: The Ministry of Defence currently holds 230 private finance initiative properties, across three estates, to meet the entitlement of service personnel based at Abbey Wood. Housing is allocated mainly by rank for officers and by family size for other ranks, and cannot be broken down in the form requested.
The cost of providing this accommodation for financial year 2009-10 was £6.3 million, which includes rent, repair and maintenance.
There are a further 23 other ranks and nine officers' service family accommodation (SFA) properties across the Bristol area. These properties are leased from Annington Homes Ltd. at a total rental cost of £120,800 per year.
When demand outweighs supply and no suitable SFA can be found, as a last resort substitute service family accommodation (SSFA) may be offered to service personnel within the appropriate distance from their duty station. As at July 2010, 13 SSFA were being used to house service families posted to Abbey Wood, at a cost of £14,356 per calendar month. The number and costs of substitute accommodation fluctuates on a daily basis.
