As might be expected after decades of underinvestment there are many issues arising from these properties and the accommodation is not of the high standard to which we aspire.
Although essential maintenance and repairs continue to be carried out and issues raised by occupants are addressed, these properties are not required beyond 2011 and accordingly no major modernisation or improvement works are planned.
I have also asked for an update on these buildings and will write following this.
I wrote to the hon. Member on 25 April 2009 stating that there were some issues with the accommodation and that I would write to him again shortly with details of these and our steps to resolve them.
The number of complaints received by Modern Housing Solutions (MHS) in each of the last 12 months is provided in the following table.
Total number of complaints received Number of complaints regarding maintenance1 May 2008 622 397 June 2008 626 379 July 2008 656 458 August 2008 625 398 September 2008 727 479 October 2008 618 509 November 2008 674 407 December 2008 684 390 January 2009 909 534 February 2009 788 465 March 2009 937 497 April 2009 1,049 532 1 Total complaints less those about missed appointments.
The figures have been broken down to separate cases where MHS have paid compensation to service family accommodation (SFA) occupants for missed appointments.
MHS are responsible for the maintenance and repair of approximately 45,000 SFA properties in England and Wales and carry out over 200,000 response repair jobs each year.
The table provided as follows shows, as of December 2008, the number and percentage of single living accommodation (SLA) broken down by grade. Grade is an assessment of the size, amenities and condition of the SLA.
Region Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Grand total East Midlands 1,488 25 809 14 265 4 3,464 57 6,026 East of England 3,989 32 2,680 22 2,337 19 3,289 27 12,295 London 129 3 1,147 29 654 16 2,066 52 3,996 North East 417 16 159 6 1,423 55 611 23 2,610 North West 101 8 417 32 737 56 57 4 1,312 South East 7,221 19 4,813 12 4,239 11 22,382 58 38,655 South West 8,764 30 3,164 11 4,230 14 13,449 45 29,607 West Midlands 1,236 19 1,129 18 1,907 29 2,216 34 6,488 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,589 31 742 7 2,240 19 5,040 43 11,611 Wales 427 15 489 17 76 3 1,805 65 2,797 Scotland 2,443 33 1,527 21 2,096 28 1,335 18 7,401 Northern Ireland 1,445 36 971 24 900 22 717 18 4,033 Grand total 31,249 25 18,047 14 21,104 17 56,431 44 126,831
Further details on this breakdown are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
It is not possible to provide a breakdown of service family accommodation as the information is not held in the form requested and will take more time to collate and verify. I will therefore write to the hon. Member with the requested information.
The number of reported break-ins to service personnel accommodation reported in each year since 2005 is provided in the following table.
Incidents 2005 1,143 2006 1,074 2007 1,017 2008 923 2009 (as at 11 May) 228