Military Housing

Over ten thousand service personnel live in and around the Army bases of Tidworth, Netheravon, Bulford, Larkhill and Upavon in my Constituency of Devizes, accompanied by thousands of dependent spouses and children. Living in decent accommodation both on and off the base should be automatic, but for too many years successive governments have tolerated substandard housing conditions for service families.

The reasons are many and varied - a MoD focus on equipment spending over "home comforts", a constantly shifting population and perhaps most under-valued of all, the tendency of Army spouses to make the best of a bad quarter, to think that making a fuss about housing would be unacceptable when their spouse has a dangerous posting and to tolerate constant moves (as one former Field Marshall's wife told, me, 32 postings in 34 years - "made us dammed good at packing" interjected the FM).

With 49,000 houses and 150,000 single bedrooms, the MoD is the biggest property manager in Britain but it has historically neglected its estate. British military housing has been described as "disgraceful" by the all-party Commons Defence Committee and "frankly shaming" by Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the Army. In 2007, the MoD admitted that 60% of single-room accommodation for soldiers was "sub-standard"; a definition that ignored the fact that prisoners are housed in better conditions than many soldiers. Families fare even worse with 68% of the family estate falling below the MoD's definition of high quality accommodation. Having visited a lot of military housing in my Constituency during the Election I can tell first-hand what poor quality looks like - cramped, crumbling, jerry built and damp.

To their credit, the last government belatedly woke up to the problem and increased spending on housing refurbishment and reconstruction. They also entered into one of the longest and largest PFI deals the MoD has ever signed; a 35 year, £8 billion contract with Aspire Defence to regenerate many aspects of the Defence estate including delivering 11,500 single en-suite bedspaces. I visited the Tidworth site in July this year and was shown around by resident soldiers who were pleased with the quality of the new rooms, the maintenance of the estate and the services provided. However, this contract does not include any construction or improvement of service family accommodation and I was therefore delighted to hear that investment in SFA housing remains a priority for the Coalition government, despite the spending cuts that have to be made to deal with the last government's disastrous economic legacy.

Liam Fox confirmed at our Party Conference that almost £50 million would be spent providing new SFA units in Bulford and that ongoing efficiency savings from the MoD would be re-invested in upgrading housing. This is part of the Government's wider commitment to restore the military covenant, broaden the support for the whole military family and ensure that care and support continues beyond the point at which someone leaves the Services. Indeed, the issue of housing inaccessibility for veterans is one more thing that has been all but ignored for the last 13 years - but one that I trust this government will prioritise.

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