Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has agreed with the Homes and Communities Agency the release of existing Defence Support Group sites for housing.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement which I laid in the House on 6 January 2015 (Official Report, column 9WS) on the sale of the Defence Support Group (DSG) land business to Babcock and signature of a 10-year contract to continue and transform the services DSG currently provides the Army.

Any DSG estate which Babcock decides to vacate will be handed back to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), at which stage the MOD will decide the most appropriate use for that estate. This could include potential re-use for Defence purposes. However, as with the potential release of any MOD estate, the Government's targets to increase the land available for housing will be a key consideration.