Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress made over the last 18 months in improving the maintenance of the accommodation of military personnel.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) manages c47,000 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in the UK. The Government inherited an SFA estate which is ageing and requires sustained investment to arrest decline and maintain accommodation and delivery standards.
The Secretary of State for Defence has committed to reviewing its target standard for accommodation with the aim of improving the standard of SFA across the estate, and to better delineate between the current, varied standards of condition.
Planning for winter 2024-25 has included delivering a full day Rehearsal of Concept (RoC) Drill on 5 September 2024, to test MOD’s contractors’ plans for winter preparedness against extreme weather scenarios. Preparedness has included ensuring appropriate resource is in place, conducting pre-winter maintenance work, issuing Winter Preparedness communications to Service families, and preparing contingency plans should extreme weather events emerge.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made regarding the ownership and upgrading of married accommodation for serving personnel.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) manages c47,000 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in the UK. The Government inherited an SFA estate which is ageing and requires sustained investment to arrest decline and maintain accommodation and delivery standards.
The Secretary of State for Defence has committed to reviewing its target standard for accommodation with the aim of improving the standard of SFA across the estate, and to better delineate between the current, varied standards of condition.
Planning for winter 2024-25 has included delivering a full day Rehearsal of Concept (RoC) Drill on 5 September 2024, to test MOD’s contractors’ plans for winter preparedness against extreme weather scenarios. Preparedness has included ensuring appropriate resource is in place, conducting pre-winter maintenance work, issuing Winter Preparedness communications to Service families, and preparing contingency plans should extreme weather events emerge.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that armed forces accommodation is sufficiently prepared for winter.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) manages c47,000 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in the UK. The Government inherited an SFA estate which is ageing and requires sustained investment to arrest decline and maintain accommodation and delivery standards.
The Secretary of State for Defence has committed to reviewing its target standard for accommodation with the aim of improving the standard of SFA across the estate, and to better delineate between the current, varied standards of condition.
Planning for winter 2024-25 has included delivering a full day Rehearsal of Concept (RoC) Drill on 5 September 2024, to test MOD’s contractors’ plans for winter preparedness against extreme weather scenarios. Preparedness has included ensuring appropriate resource is in place, conducting pre-winter maintenance work, issuing Winter Preparedness communications to Service families, and preparing contingency plans should extreme weather events emerge.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the appointment of the independent Armed Forces Commissioner for the UK will take place this year.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces Commissioner will be recruited following Parliament’s consideration of the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill which was introduced in the House of Commons on 6 November. The Commissioner’s recruitment will be undertaken via a Public Appointment process and will be subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation they undertook with service personnel and their families regarding the Modernised Accommodation Offer for the armed forces.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Modernised Accommodation Offer built on extensive consultation from the Future Accommodation Model as well as further research as the policy was finalised. As part of the current review, we will be undertaking further consultations with Service personnel and families.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that single living and service family accommodation is adequately maintained this winter.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Shadow Minister (Defence)
To ensure Single Living Accommodation is adequately maintained this winter, the Department has introduced enhanced planned maintenance for heating and hot water systems with "plug-in" functionality for temporary boilers and generators to improve resilience, reliability, and availability across a significant number of Single Living Accommodation. Furthermore, fault, defect and maintenance management information for heating, hot water, damp and mould is being enhanced, enabling pro-active interventions that will reduce the probability of failure and improve the reliability of installations.
All Single Living Accommodation service contracts are recognised to be performing to the required Key Performance Indicator standards.
A Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) to communicate the action that has been taken to prepare for Service Family Accommodation over the winter period was laid in the House on 13 November 2023. A link to the WMS can be found below:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-11-13/hcws28
The WMS includes planned works to address issues such as damp and mould that have greater impact in winter; and measures to improve performance delivering responsive repairs resulting from, or occurring during, inclement weather.