Added: Thursday, 4 January, 2007, 16:32 GMT 16:32 UK

The goverment need a good skiffing!

Major Major, Hannover

MoD admits serious housing problems

· Senior officer adds his voice to criticisms
· Websites show cracks, mildew and broken pipes

Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday January 5, 2007
The Guardian


The Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday that there were serious housing problems for military personnel but warned there was no "quick fix".

The MoD - Britain's biggest property manager, with 49,000 houses and 150,000 "single units" - said: "Improving accommodation is a constant challenge. As the newest is opened, the oldest needs renewing." It insisted 95% of family accommodation was rated "good" or better.

It was responding to comments by Lieutenant General Freddie Viggers, the army's adjutant general responsible for personnel. He reflected disaffection among senior ranks when he told the BBC: "There is still too much accommodation which is of a poor standard, old, and not modern in the way it's fitted.

"It's one of the key issues for me in giving our soldiers and their families what they deserve in return for that they do for us. So our duty now is to fight our corner to get what they deserve."
His intervention - at a time when soldiers are being stretched in intensive operations in Afghanistan and Iraq - was prompted by increasing evidence of poor standards of accommodation. Pictures of homes and barracks with mildew, broken pipes and cracked walls, are appearing on websites.

Jennifer James, the mother of a young soldier, said: "He complains about the smell, he complains about the puddles of water on the floor from the leaky toilets, and just wishes he could get out."

The wife of a serviceman said the state of the 1950s prefabs at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, was one of the reasons her husband was leaving. Speaking anonymously to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "I hope the powers that be sit up and take notice of this."

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, whose constituency includes Brize Norton, said more money should be invested through private finance initiative projects. "The Conservative party is going to bring together a whole forces families' manifesto, because they do so much for us and we should do more for them."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, accused the government of hypocrisy."Service accommodation has been badly neglected for years by both Conservative and Labour governments."

Derek Twigg, the junior defence minister, retorted: "We've spent £700m last year in improving service accommodation. We recognise the need to improve it." He will sign a £300m contract for the second phase of a £1bn single living accommodation project next month.

More significant than the party political argument is the willingness of senior army officers to speak out. In his first interview since taking up his post last summer, General Sir Richard Dannatt, the new head of the army, made it clear to the Guardian that he was deeply concerned about the state of some army barracks.

Major General Richard Shirreff, commander of British troops in southern Iraq, has warned thecountry needed "to understand the quality work done by these courageous men and women only happens if these people are properly supported back home in terms of training, infrastructure, barracks, accommodation".

General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the army, said in his Dimbleby lecture last month that some accommodation was "frankly shaming".

Douglas Young, chairman of the newly formed and unofficial British Armed Forces Federation , welcomed the generals' comments but said that "it is a central MoD responsibility, a government thing".

MoD trying to combat low quality housing
By Thomas Harding
Last Updated: 3:03am GMT 05/01/2007

The Ministry of Defence has admitted to "serious problems" with soldiers' accommodation, but says it is working to upgrade them.

After reports that prisoners were housed in better conditions than many soldiers, the MoD yesterday conceded that 60 per cent of accommodation for single soldiers was "sub-standard". While there was no "quick-fix solution", £1 billion was to be spent on single living accommodation.

More than £5 billion will be spent on upgrading military housing over the next decade.

advertisementWith 49,000 houses and 150,000 single bedrooms, the MoD is the biggest property manager in Britain. But it said the housing was spread over a vast area, making it difficult to manage. Improving accommodation was a constant challenge — "like painting the Forth Bridge, it never actually stops because as the newest accommodation is opened, the oldest needs renewing".

The MoD added: "We're working hard to deal with that which isn't up to the high standards we set."

The wife of one serviceman said housing at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, was one reason her husband was leaving the military. Speaking anonymously to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said the 1950s prefabs were in "quite a bad condition", adding: "This Government is losing highly-qualified personnel hand over fist."

The Tory leader David Cameron, whose Witney constituency includes Brize Norton, said more should be done for military families. He told Today: "The Conservative Party is going to bring together a whole forces families' manifesto to make sure we do better for our families, because they do so much for us and, frankly, we should do more for them."

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell accused the Government of hypocrisy over its treatment of service personnel. He said: "It is hypocritical to hail the professionalism and commitment of our armed forces while failing to look after them properly

Bring back 'Changing Rooms', we want Charlie!!!!!. Why not contract them, they can revamp a quarter in less time then it takes to open a new 'HELP' line at MOD!

As we have highlighted in previous years, the Defence Housing Executive (DHE) commitment to bring the core stock of SFA in Great Britain up to “Standard 1 for condition” by November 2005 was bandoned in 2002. Since then, no new target date has been set for the completion of the programme.

We note that funding has been made available to upgrade 600 SFA to “Standard 1 for condition” in 2005-06 and that MOD will continue to upgrade as many properties as possible against “other competing priorities”. We urge MOD to do all in its power to find the resources to
upgrade a greater number of properties each year. In evidence, MOD told us that £467 million had been spent on the SFA upgrade programme so far and it estimated that a further £650 million would be required to complete it. We note that this latter figure was given to us in 2002 as the cost of the whole upgrade programme in Great Britain.

From MOD’s evidence we are aware that nearly 59 per cent of the estimated long-term housing requirement is now at “Standard 1 for condition” and around a further 18,000 properties at “Standard 2 for condition”, that is, needing one or two elements to be refurbished to bring it up to “Standard 1 for condition”. Additionally, around 1,000 properties are below “Standard 2 for condition”.

In Germany, a 2001 survey indicated that over 99 per cent of SFA in Germany was below “Standard 1 for condition”....In Northern Ireland, just over 8 per cent of SFA is “Standard 1 for condition”.

MOD’s evidence shows that, at April 2005, 85 per cent of occupied SLA worldwide was below Grade 1 with 47 per cent at the lowest grade (Grade 4).

Recommendation 8: We recommend graduated increases to Service Family Accommodation rental charges from 1 April 2006. The resulting charges are shown in Tables 5.1 and 5.2.

Recommendation 9: We recommend graduated increases to Single Living
Accommodation charges from 1 April 2006. The resulting charges are shown in Table 5.3.

Total rent 2004 (Grade 1 by type - varies by size)
Service Families Accommodation £ per year

Officers Other Ranks
I 7,267 D 3,259
II 6,537 C 2,781
III 5,745 B 2,427
IV 4,380 A 1,832
V 3,577

SLA charges (Grade 2)

Major and above 1,562
Captain and below 1,270
Warrant Officer and SNCO 956
Corporal and below 537
New Entrant 423

Total rent 2005 (Grade 1 by type - varies by size)
Service Families Accommodation £ per year

Officers Other Ranks
I 8,180 (+12.6%) D 3,661 (+12%)
II 7,358 (+12.6%) C 3,106 (+11.7%)
III 6,468 (+12.6%) B 2,650 (+9.2%)
IV 4,964 (+13.3%) A 2,004 (+9.4%)
V 3,953 (+10.5%)

SLA charges (Grade 2)

Major and above 1,643 (+5.2%)
Captain and below 1,332 (+4.9%)
Warrant Officer and SNCO 1,004 (+5%)
Corporal and below 573 (+6.7%)
New Entrant 449 (+6.1%)

And there lies a big part of the problem are the MoD actually getting best value? you can have a whole house done for that (normally 7 windows)
or is it the contractor calling the shots and charging what they like? the latter I suspect. Do the contractors have clauses/finance able penalties for failing SLA/targets etc/crap repairs?. Its about tme the MoD was stopped being seen as a charge what like like then double it organization .

I love the spin the MOD Intranet is putting on the Accom subject....everytime i log onto the Defence Intranet Homepage there is a new pic of "new" SLA or SFA at the start of it.
At present is a pic of a very new house in Portsmouth! Before is a was a rather nice "alpine chalet" style block in Catterick!

• 95% of Service Families Accommodation is rated at standards 1 or 2 on a four-point scale (1 being the highest 4 the lowest standard). We accept, though, that we need to deal with that which is sub-standard.

Assuming that the MOD does not provide 'above standard' accommodation this would mean that everything not at standard 1 is sub-standard.

• 35% of single living accommodation (barracks) is rated at standards 1 or 2 on the same four point scale. We are addressing this with the £1bn SLAM (Single Living Accommodation) Project.

Ditto

• There is no "quick-fix" solution though. They've had decades to keep this accomodation in order!!

• The scale of this needs to be appreciated – we have 49,000 houses and 150,000 single living units, making us Britain's largest property manager.

No excuse - the MOD should therefore have an estate management system whose capability is commensurate with the scale of the task

• Thanks to the Cold War our accommodation is spread across 200+ sites in 16 countries – we're addressing this by rationalising the estate, but this takes time.

This does not excuse poor estate/property management and upkeep

• Improving accommodation is a constant challenge – like painting the Forth Bridge it never actually stops because as the newest accommodation is opened the oldest needs renewing.

At least the Forth Bridge is still a recognisable shade of red at either end!

• Last year we spent £700m on housing and accommodation. MOD expects to spend £5bn in the next decade on housing and accommodation.

Therefore the MOD is commited to reducing the level of spending on housing and accommodation by £200m per year over the next decade. Taking infaltion into consideration this is hardly a positive point is it?

• In 2005/6 we modernised and upgraded 1,705 family homes. In 06/07 we aim to upgrade another 1,200.

3% and falling then!!

• Next month Defence Minister Derek Twigg will sign a £300m+ contract for the second phase of Project SLAM.

Over how long and for what?

• In family accommodation, 96% of calls last year requesting emergency repairs (such as heating, plumbing or electrics) resulted in temporary repairs being finished within three hours of the call.

Not on my estate and I can pretty much guess that others will not have experience such a good service

anyone ever had to stay at nescliffe? lol.

Ikea do flat pack (pre-fab actually) housing for cheap, can't ol' Tone scmooze up to Ikea?

www.boklok.com/uk/start.html

Copyright 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
All Rights Reserved
The Guardian (London)

January 5, 2007 Friday

SECTION: GUARDIAN HOME PAGES; Pg. 15

HEADLINE: Forces' views

Excerpts from messages left yesterday on ARmy Rumour SErvice (Arrse), unofficial comment website for UK forces personnel:

"'Fond' memories of the Royal Signals Corp mess transit accommodation in Blandford (Dorset) . . . I found a bed frame minus half of the springs. Having bodged it together . . . I placed the piss-stained mattress on top. Next - locker minus one door and no hanger rail. Carpet stained with piss and vomit - absolutely rubbish."

Howay the Lads

"Civvy landlords would have been prosecuted for some of the slums our soldiers endure. It would be nice for our soldiers to have better quality accommodation at home than they experience in Basra or Helmand."

Mrs Raven

Any more like this? If so get clicking and send them in to BAFF. The news teams will move on to another subject as BB is back on. BAFF with your help will keep the momentum going.
www.baff.org.uk/Campai...aigns.html


RAF Brize Norton