Select Committee on Public Accounts Minutes of Evidence


MANAGING REDUCTIONS IN THE NUMBER OF VACANT FAMILY QUARTERS (HC 435 DATED 27 APRIL 2000)

Supplementary memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Defence

  The information contained in this memorandum has been agreed with the National Audit Office and is intended to update certain information contained in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report (HC 435) which was published on 27 April 2000. The paragraph numbers refer to paragraphs in the C&AG's report.

  
In Published
Report
Current
Information

1.Executive Summary, Paragraph 1
Numbers of Service Quarters
63,000
61,000
Underleased from AHL
53,000 (84%)
50,500 (83%)

2.Executive Summary, Paragraph 3
Percentage of total properties
23%
23.5%
Numbers of empty homes
14,425
14,352*
* Headline count does not reflect changes in status of empty properties, included within this overall classification. Properties where the contractual six month notice of release to AHL as been served are retained within the above total until the end of their notice periods. The percentage of empty homes to total properties is expected to fall to some 18 per cent by 31 March 2001 as a consequence of planned disposals between now and 31 March 2001.

3.Executive Summary, Paragraph 4
Numbers of homes empty for over six months
3,800
632
Numbers of homes empty for over three years
346
50
Number of properties allocated for deployment, modernisation, disposal or demolition
4,900
9,300*
Number of properties allocated for other defence uses, occupied by families whose entitlement had ceased or were leased to third parties
2,200
2,162
* This reflects the increased disposal effort and SDR deployment requirements.

4.Executive Summary, Paragraph 5
Cost (AHL rent and maintenance) of empty homes
£39m
£41m

5.Executive Summary, Paragraph 11
Numbers of DHE Area Offices
24
20

6.Executive Summary, Paragraph 20
Surpluses disposed of since April 1995
over 8,000
over 9,000

7.Part 1: Paragraph 1.1
Numbers of Service Quarters
63,000
61,000
Underleased from AHL
53.000 (84%)
50,500 (83%)
Percentage of total properties
23%
23.5%
Numbers of empty homes
(14,425)
14,352*)
* See footnote at paragraph 2 above.

8.Part 1: Paragraph 1.15
Expenditure
FY 1998-99
FY 1999-2000
AH rental
£110m
£109m
Works
£149m
£158m
Service Receipts
(£79m)
(£79m)*
Other Receipts
(£5m)
(£5.5m)
Net Expenditure
£175m
£182.5m
* FY 1998-99 figure for Service Receipts repeated for FY 1999-2000 on the assumption that the reduction in take up of married quarters was broadly matched by the annual recommended AFPRB increase in rents by Serviceman.

9.Part 1: Paragraph 1.16
Costs: (AHL rent plus maintenance)
FY 1998-99
FY 1999-2000
Empty homes
£39m
£41m*
Unavailable homes
£4m
£4.2m*
Numbers of empty homes
14,425 (23%)
14,352 (23.5%)**
Numbers of unavailable homes
2,200 (4%)
2,162 (3.5%)**
* Maintenance element of original data uprated by inflation, AHL rental revised to reflect FY 1999-2000 levels.

** See footnote at paragraph 2 above.

10.Part 1: Paragraph 1.18
Upgrade programme
FY 1998-99
FY 1999-2000
Expenditure
£27m
£47.9m
Percentage of estate upgraded to Standard 1
9%
18.7%

11.Part 2: Paragraph 2.9 and Figure 9
Age analysis of Routine Voids
Sept 1999
Aug 2000
<3 months
3,944
3,382
>12 months
2,171
320
>3 years
346
50

12.Part 2: Paragraph 2.14
Costs of oversupply
Sept 1999
Aug 2000
Percentage quarters empty or unavailable
26%*
27%
AH average rental
£2,050
£2,200
Average maintenance spent empty/unavailable houses
£937
£984**
Numbers of empty/unavailable
16,629
16,514*
Total cost of retained empty/unavailable
£38m***
£39.7m***
* See footnote at paragraph 2 above, see also paragraph 9 above—The Report's Paragraph 1.16 implies 27 per cent rather than figure of 26 per cent quoted here.

** Original figure uprated by inflation.

*** NAO calculation subtracts "other receipts" quoted in paragraph 3 above (Paragraph 1.15) from costs quoted in Paragraph 9 above (Paragraph 1.16). Hence (39+4)-5=38 and (41+4.2)-5.5=39.7.

13.Part 3: Paragraph 3.21
Substitute accommodation
FY1998-99
FY1999-2000
Cost
£10.5m
£9.8m
Average numbers of properties used
918
793
Average cost
£11,000
£12,400
Average cost of quarter
£4,500
£4,800

23 October 2000




 
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