Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of veterans who were homeless in each year since May 2010.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold this information.

We attach considerable importance to minimising the risk of Service personnel becoming homeless on leaving the Armed Forces, and go to considerable lengths to prevent this, for example through the provision of targeted housing advice during resettlement and, since April of this year, the Forces Help to Buy scheme.

To date, the MOD has committed over £1.3 million of the £35 million LIBOR fines in support of homeless and vulnerable veterans, and hopes to announce further funding in support of homeless hostels, drawing on the £40 million Veterans Accommodation Fund.

For further information on this and the support available to veterans, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 December 2013 (Official Report, columns 259-60W) to the hon. member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell).