To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service families have been placed by Modern Housing Solutions in (a) Premier Travel Inns and (b) other hotels in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement. (294042)

For information related to 2005 to June 2007, the hon. Member is referred to the answer given by my predecessor on 26 July 2007, Official Report, column 1246W, to the hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey).

Information on the number of service families placed in Premier Travel Inns or other hotels between July 2007 and today is not held centrally. I will therefore write to the hon. Member with the information requested once it has been collated.

Substantive answer from Kevan Jones to Willie Rennie:

I undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question of 19 October 2009 (Official Report, column 1219W) regarding how many Service families have been placed in Premier Travel Inns and other hotels by Modern Housing Solutions (MHS) in each year since 2005.

MHS are the Housing Prime Contractor with responsibility for the repair and maintenance of approximately 44,000 Service Family Accommodation homes in England and Wales. They provide a full 24 hour, 365 day a year service in order to ensure all domestic repair emergencies are resolved as quickly as possible and with the minimum of inconvenience to Service families.

However, there will always be some cases where domestic emergencies such as fires or floods cannot be immediately resolved, and therefore it will occasionally be necessary to provide alternative accommodation to families while remedial works are carried out. The MOD always seeks to use Service accommodation for this purpose. However, where this is not available it may be necessary to place families in hotel accommodation.

The number of families placed in hotel accommodation each year since 1 January 2006, the start of the Housing Prime Contract, is as follows:

I hope this information is helpful.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 14 September 2009, Official Report, column 2124W, on armed forces: housing (1) for what reasons each of the charges set out in the answer were incurred; [294790]

The number of claims for damage invoices raised against occupants of service family accommodation (SFA) for damage to property is provided in the following table.

These figures represent single invoices raised and cover all SFA properties including those not maintained by Modern Housing Solutions. Invoices may cover several items of damage caused by an occupant. A full breakdown of all invoices could be provided only at disproportionate cost.