Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Ministry of Defence
Question 18 (Mr Philip Dunne): I did not make
that comment lightly. One of my constituents, currently serving
in active theatre, was sent for pre-mobilisation training to a
barracks, and that was the state of affairs. If I tell you that
that barracks was at Chilwell, will you confirm whether you have
heard similar stories from there.
Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell is home to two main
units: 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group, a field Army
unit, and the Reserves Training and Mobilisation Centre (RTMC).
As Mr Dunne's constituent was undertaking pre-mobilisation training
he will most likely have been accommodated within the RTMC.
The accommodation at Chetwynd Barracks is admittedly
old, but is maintained to meet statutory health and safety requirements.
All occupants are strongly encouraged to report any faults to
the Contractor's Help Desk via the Station Quartermaster. There
have been no reported incidents of pest (including rat) infestations
in the accommodation at Chilwell. My office have also spoken to
the Commanding Officer (CO) who was clear that he was not aware
of any such occurrence.
The CO also asked me to emphasise that improving
the accommodation at Chilwell is one of his highest priorities.
A new Single Living Accommodation (SLA) block was built some eight
or nine years ago to provide temporary accommodation for reserves
passing through RTMC and the Officers' Mess has had one block
modernised and another built. In addition, some 70 single ensuite
rooms were built in 2001/02. The Sergeants' Mess is also a relatively
new building. More recently 48 new SLA ensuite rooms have been
delivered at Chilwell (all for Junior Ranks), and in 2005-06 over
£300,000 was spent on a major upgrade of the ablutions serving
the RTMC accommodation.
Additional facilities to accommodate Royal Engineer
specialist units relocating as part of the Northern Ireland normalisation
process are also planned to be completed by the end of the next
Financial Year.
As regards the Service Families Accommodation
(SFA), there are 178 houses at Chilwell, of which 144 are at Standard
1 for Condition (the top standard) and 34 at Standard 2 for Condition
(the second highest standard). There are no properties at the
remaining two lower standards for condition. The SFA is maintained
under the Housing Prime Contract and there are no known issues
regarding the pest infestations at these properties.
We would be happy to investigate this matter
further, but without more specific details of the incident mentioned
by Mr Dunne's constituent, it is not possible to be more precise.
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