Thank you for contacting me about accommodation for our armed forces.
I come from a military family myself so have a good understanding of what military service means for a family. I completely agree and am pleased that the decision is now being put on hold. I continue to push for the MOD to put in Rick Haythornwaite’s proposals as soon as possible. Agency and agility: Incentivising people in a new era (publishing.service.gov.uk)
In the meantime, the MOD has been working on a strategy to improve Service accommodation. You many have read the UK Armed Forces Defence Accommodation Strategy, some new Single Living Accommodation (SLA) has been built in recent years and some blocks have been refurbished. You can read more about it here. The Modernised Accommodation Offer has been designed based on feedback from service personnel and will now be introduced, improving the standard of Single Living Accommodation and backed by £200 million worth of investment, on top of the £4 billion to upgrade accommodation and build new living quarters for our serving personnel over the next decade.
Regarding Service Family Accommodation (SFA), the UK Government continues to invest significantly to improve the quality of UK SFA. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation received an investment of £400 million over the period 2023/24 and 2024/25 as part of the Defence Command Paper refresh. The £380.2 million forecast for 2023/24 is more than double the investment in maintenance and improvements in 2022.
I will continue to monitor the Scheme’s progress closely and let the Minister know of your thoughts on this topic.
