“It is shameful that the MoD is prepared to spend over £2 billion of taxpayers’ money on swanky new London offices but can’t find £15 million to prevent the homes of our armed forces from sliding into squalor”. 

“The MoD now claims it will spend billions to sort this out over the next decade. That still leaves one asking: why did the dreadful conditions arise in the first place? And why is so much of the expenditure now proposed actually going to private landlords rather than into improving the MoD’s own property?”.

Mr Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, was speaking as the committee published its report into the defence estate.  The report finds that more than half of single living accommodation for service personnel and over 40 per cent of accommodation for service families is in a substandard condition.

In 2006–07, the MoD cut £15 million from estate management budget.  In response, planned maintenance work, including re-roofing projects, were halted.  The report also finds that the MoD does not yet understand the full cost of its estate or where future investment should be targeted to best effect.

The MoD announced in July that £5 billion would be spent on upgrading and maintaining military accommodation.  However, figures obtained by the BBC show that £2 billion of that sum will be paid to a private firm, Annington Homes, and spent on renting back premises sold off by the state in 1996. 

29 November 2007

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The MoD signed a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal in May 2000 for the redevelopment of the Main Building, the MoD's London headquarters. The 30-year deal will cost the taxpayer £2.35 billion.

See also:
PAC REPORT: Managing the Defence Estate
PARLIAMENT: Troop shortage at crisis levels, says MP
PARLIAMENT: Treating troops properly saves money, says MP
PARLIAMENT: MoD kit blunders letting down our troops, says MP

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