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Armed Forces: Housing

Volume 461: debated on Friday 15 June 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who is responsible for carrying out inspections of family accommodation at Pirbright barracks. (141843)

Inspections on Service Families Accommodation at Pirbright are carried out by representatives of Modern Housing Solutions, the Housing Prime Contractor.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of family accommodation at Pirbright barracks is (a) currently unoccupied and (b) unfit for occupation. (141844)

21 per cent. of Service Families Accommodation (SFA) at Pirbright (105 properties) are currently unoccupied, of which 67 properties (13 per cent. of the total SFA stock at Pirbright) are unavailable for occupation.

The 67 properties include those under offer to or accepted by a service family; is awaiting return to Annington Homes Ltd in accordance with the 1996 Sale Agreement; is awaiting maintenance or upgrade work; or is held pending a future deployment of service personnel into the area.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average wait for repairs to be carried out on family accommodation at Pirbright barracks was in the latest period for which figures are available. (141846)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions newly arriving service personnel and their families have arrived at Pirbright barracks to find that their accommodation was uninhabitable in the last 12 months. (141851)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many reported break-ins to forces’ accommodation there were in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. (142101)

From information held by the service police the reported break-ins for each year are:

Reported break-ins

1997

1,650

1998

1,619

1999

1,334

2000

1,369

2001

1,204

2002

1,535

2003

1,732

2004

1,354

2005

933

2006

729

2007

1260

1 To date.

These figures do not include incidents which are not reported to the service police by the Home Department Police Forces or the Ministry of Defence Police, who do not differentiate service accommodation from other types of residence.