Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the standard of accommodation available to RAF Odiham personnel; and whether his Department has taken recent steps to improve the quality of that accommodation.

The condition of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties is formally assessed against the Decent Homes (DH) Standard. The DH standard is a technical standard for public housing, defined by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). More than 98% of SFA meet this standard; properties below it are not allocated to Service personnel.

In financial year 2021-22, investment to improve SFA at RAF Odiham included the installation of new windows and doors for 106 homes and an additional 20 homes were refurbished. Over the course of this financial year, a further 34 homes will benefit from new roofs.

The launch of the Defence Accommodation Strategy in October 2022 introduced a Defence Minimum Standard for Single Living Accommodation (SLA) and informs the future investment of SLA.

In financial year 2021-22, kitchen and utility rooms in four SLA blocks at RAF Odiham were upgraded and ablutions were refurbished in one SLA block. Further improvement work to SLA is also taking place, which includes painting and decorating, improving the shared ablutions areas and cooking facilities.