Armed Forces: Accommodation

Lord Dannatt Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, the provision of accommodation near the duty station continues to be seen as an important enabler of operational effectiveness, and there are no plans to remove entitlement to it based on a defined point in a service person’s career. As my noble friend said, accommodation is a fundamental part of the Armed Forces covenant, and noble Lords will recall several valuable improvements made to the covenant during the passage of the Armed Forces Bill through your Lordships’ House last autumn. It is much improved as a result.

[Lord Dannatt]

My Lords, will the Minister give whatever assurance he can, further to what he has already said, particularly bearing in mind that the Army’s policy is one of encouraging accompanied service, that nothing that is being planned or considered will make it more difficult or more expensive for a service man or woman to live with his or her family at or near their duty station?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I absolutely agree with the sentiment behind the noble Lord’s question that we owe our service personnel a great deal. As I have already stated, the forces accommodation project is under way. All options are being considered, and it is too early to pre-empt the outcome of that project. We will develop a future employment model that is affordable and balances the aspirations of service personnel with the demands that service life makes of them.