News

MoD spending £5.6m a month on rentals says Rennie

Fri, 13 Nov 2009

The MoD is spending around £5.6m a month on renting substitute forces’ accommodation, despite having thousands of empty properties already on its books, new figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats have shown.

Answers to Parliamentary Questions by the Liberal Democrats found that:

The total monthly rent of all Substitute Service Family Accommodation (SSFA) was £1,821,172
The total monthly rent of all Substitute Service Single Accommodation (SSSA) was £3,768,532
This gives a monthly total of £5,589,704, which would equate to £67,076,448 a year
The answer showed that even in areas with permanent military bases, the MoD was having to rent temporary accommodation for troops – for example in Colchester over £60,000 a month is spent on SSSA rentals

A recent NAO report found that 17% of MoD properties were still standing empty.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson, Willie Rennie said:

“This is yet another shameful example of the MoD wasting money at a time when our troops are still suffering equipment shortages on the front line.

“It is hard to believe that the Government is throwing millions of pounds a month at rentals despite having thousands of empty properties on its hands.

“Bob Ainsworth must explain whether this vast expense is due to mismanagement or the shameful condition of the properties the MoD already holds.

“This is yet more evidence that the Government needs to cut back on MoD waste in order to order to give our brave troops the homes they deserve.”