Lord Craig of Radley
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Armed Forces: Accommodation
Lord Craig of Radley Excerpts(13 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Craig of Radley
My Lords, does the Minister recall this quotation:
“Poor accommodation is an issue which is creating difficulties in retaining personnel in the armed forces”?
That was Dr Liam Fox as shadow Defence Secretary in 2007. Has the Defence Secretary changed his mind?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
I assure the House that the Defence Secretary has not changed his mind, and I repeat: we should pay tribute to the previous Administration’s considerable efforts in recent years to upgrade service accommodation, which are continuing. A further 900 houses have already been upgraded since this Administration took office. We are very conscious of the importance of this programme. Perhaps I should also mention that alongside it, a substantial programme is to be undertaken in the next five years of service accommodation adjustment to accommodate troops who will be returning from Germany. That is not part of this pause.