Oral Answers to Questions

Selaine Saxby Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

Absolutely right.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

13. What steps he is taking to improve service family accommodation.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

20. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of service accommodation for armed forces personnel.

[The Minister for Defence Procurement (James Cartlidge)]

Currently, around 96% of service family accommodation meets or exceeds the Government’s decent homes standard. Only these properties should be allocated to our families.

[Selaine Saxby]

As a base primarily for our Royal Marines, Chivenor in North Devon sees personnel stationed there for shorter periods of time than many other military bases. Will my hon. Friend consider additional support for high turnaround bases, perhaps including access to dental services for forces families where there are problems registering with local providers?

[James Cartlidge]

I very much enjoyed visiting RM Chivenor last summer and I congratulate my hon. Friend on being a consistent champion of the armed forces in her constituency. MOD dental healthcare provides dentistry for our armed forces personnel, ensuring that they are dentally fit and ready to deploy in the UK and overseas. The NHS provides dental care for civilians, which includes the families of armed forces personnel. I would be more than happy to arrange a meeting between my hon. Friend and MOD dental healthcare if she so wishes.