Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many child play areas there are across the defence estate; and what the annual cost is of their upkeep.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are 618 play areas across the defence estate. It is not possible to break down the annual cost of their upkeep as their maintenance forms part of the wider Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contracts and it is not possible to isolate these specific costs.
Asked by: Alex Baker (Labour - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of armed forces accommodation in Aldershot constituency; and what plans he has to improve that accommodation.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are 3,406 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties in Aldershot, and it is assessed that 3,290 (96.6%) of these currently meet or exceed the Government wide Decent Homes standard. However, the Ministry of Defence recognises poor quality housing is an issue for Service Families and continues to champion investment to improve this.
There are 4,657 Single Living Accommodation (SLA) bedspaces in Aldershot, of which 3,077 (66%) are assessed as Grade One (the highest grade) for condition. SLA within Aldershot is maintained in good condition under the Project Allenby Connaught Private Finance Initiative. SLA at Gibraltar Barracks is maintained in good condition under the Holdfast Training Services Public Private Partnership. An SLA Expert Group, including Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Top Level Budget representatives is continuing to evolve Defence Minimum Standard measures to improve the quality of SLA.
There are no major works planned on SFA or SLA in the current financial year.