Service Family Accommodation inquiry
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“The Public Accounts Committee session will focus on three areas: the state of Service Family Accommodation, the introduction of the new Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) and the introduction of the Next Generation Estates Contracts (NGEC) and how the Department is managing CarillionAmey's performance against them. The session will include a background of the provision of Service Family Accommodation for the military (including key recent developments), the amount invested by the Government in Service Family Accommodation, the current state of Service Family Accommodation and the proportion of the homes in which people are living which meet the Decent Homes Standard. The Public Accounts Committee will also be looking at the proportion of Service Families satisfied with their accommodation. As part of the inquiry, the Committee will look at Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) banding and any impacts relating to the changes in rent and the performance of the provider in relation to the Next Generation Estates Contracts (NGEC).”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
The Ministry of Defence and its contractor CarillionAmey are badly letting down service families by providing them with poor accommodation, and often leaving them for too long without basic living requirements such as heating, hot water or cooking facilities. It is unacceptable that such problems with service housing have continued for many years. In certain cases, frustration with the failure to undertake small-scale repairs may be driving some highly trained personnel to leave the military, wasting the investment made in them. It appears to have taken the Secretary of State’s intervention to secure improvements from the contractor, CarillionAmey, although we await confirmation that progress is real and can be sustained. In the coming months, the Department must decide whether to retain the contractor, based on evidence of an improved and sustainable level of service. Regardless of that decision, the Department has an opportunity with the announcement of the Future Accommodation Model at the end of 2016 to better tailor its housing to the needs of service families in the 21st century. We plan to scrutinise progress later in the year as part of a wider inquiry on defence infrastructure.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 18 May 2016 to its close on 4 January 2018.
- Oral evidence 8 Jun 2016
- Report 13 Jul 2016
- Correspondence 2 letters
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 9th Report - Service Family Accommodation ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 8 Jun 2016No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗