Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on repurposing the Ministry of Defence estate for the resettlement of 12,000 Afghan refugees who remain in bridging hotels.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continues to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and with the Home Office to support cross-Government efforts in identifying housing and settling requirements for eligible Afghans as they start their new lives in the UK.

The MOD has assessed that up to 550 Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties can be leased for between 12 months and five years, dependent on location, without impacting on Defence operations or Service families, and these properties have been offered up to Local Authorities to house ARAP families.

The Government aim is to provide long term, settled accommodation in local communities for Afghan families as they build new lives in the UK, and as of 22 April, 4,523 ARAP individuals had moved into such settled accommodation.