Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacant army dwellings there were on 30 September 2014 in Colchester; and how many such properties had (a) three and (b) four bedrooms.

There are currently 926 Service Family accommodation properties in Colchester. On 30 September 2014, 124 of these were unoccupied.

Of these 124 unoccupied, 50 were three-bedroomed and 29 were four-bedroomed properties.

The Ministry of Defence always maintains a management margin of vacant properties, in order to ensure that properties are available for incoming families and to allow for essential maintenance.

36 of the 124 properties have since been allocated to families. They are due to move in these in the near future.