Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on reducing vacant service family accommodation properties to 10%.

As at 16 January 2024, the Department has 47,863 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in the UK, 18.6% of SFA were vacant and 96% of SFA met Decent Homes Standard.

The void rate has reduced from 23% in 2019 to c. 19.5% in November 2023 to 18.6% in January 2024.

Forthcoming changes to accommodation entitlements under the New Accommodation Offer will significantly increase the number of personnel entitled to SFA. This is expected to lead to a significant increase in demand for SFA, thereby reducing the void rate further.