A Commons committee has said it is concerned about the welfare of the families of servicemen and women after new research into their accommodation.

The Ministry of Defence has around 50,000 properties in the UK, providing accommodation for 42,000 service personnel and their families.

Around 20,000 families move every year. 

The public accounts committee said in a report issued today that it is concerned by a survey from the National Audit Office that found a third of service families consider their houses to be in poor condition.

And nearly a quarter regard their properties as poorly maintained.

Around 90 per cent of MoD housing stock is within the top two of its four condition standards, which meet or exceed the government's decent homes standard.

Emerging findings from the department's recent condition survey show there are now fewer properties at Condition 1 (35 per cent) and more at Condition 2 (59 per cent) than previously recorded.

The MoD intends to upgrade all properties to Condition 1 within 20 years and all of its 2,300 Condition 3 and 4 properties to the top standard by 2012.

"Most of the MoD housing stock falls within the top two of its condition categories, but the second of these two categories encompasses a lot of variation in property condition," said Edward Leigh, chairman of the public accounts committee.

"Emerging findings from the condition survey currently being undertaken by the MoD suggest that the proportion of properties in the top category is decreasing and that in the second is increasing.

"Far too many properties are currently standing empty - almost one in five.

"This is a poor use of resource.

"The department needs to speed up its decision-making and bring more of these properties into use or dispose of them.

"Service personnel have to move regularly but they are given very little information in advance about the houses they have been allocated.

"And, when they arrive, too often the property has not been cleaned properly and repairs have not been done.

"The MoD should improve its processes for the hand-over of properties. It also needs to benchmark its delivery of housing services, including maintenance, against that by other housing providers."

The committtee recommends that the MoD introduce 'estate agent style' details for occupants including photos, information on layout and floor plans.

It could make use of data collected during the recent condition survey where feasible, and should build the generation of estate agent details into the data collection plans for its survey of the remainder of the housing stock.

It should also either undertake to clean all properties before a family moves in, or strengthen expectations that families leave them clean by inspecting properties and completing minor repairs before another family moves in.

Other recommendations include introducing a deposit, from which the department can deduct cleaning charges for properties not left in a satisfactory state; and a new a record of tenants who abuse their accommodation so incidents can be taken up with their military units.

Written by Tony Grew