Local MP Caroline Dinenage has written to the Public Accounts Committee raising her concerns about the standards of Service Family Accommodation in the Gosport constituency.
The Public Accounts Committee scrutinises public spending and holds the government and its civil servants to account for the delivery of public services. It is currently conducting an inquiry into Service Family Accommodation following reports that the contract with Carillion Amey, agreed in January 2015, was letting down many service families and that this was having an impact on the retention of trained military personnel.
As MP for a constituency with a great number of service families, Caroline has actively campaigned against inadequate Service Family Accommodation. She frequently raises the matter with the Ministry of Defence, the Government and Carillion Amey. On Monday Caroline met with Naval Families Federation at HMS Collingwood in her Gosport Constituency to discuss their concerns along with MOD Personnel & Veterans Minister, Mark Lancaster. She will be meeting Carillion Amey bosses shortly.
On 7 June 2016, Caroline wrote to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee to submit evidence ahead of their hearing. She raised concerns over substandard SFA, inadequate complaints procedures and poor customer service.
Caroline's evidence was raised twice in the hearing at Q37 and Q57. You can access the full transcript of the hearing, here.
Commenting, Caroline said:
"I receive a number of complaints from service families in my constituency concerning the complete disrepair of some SFA properties, inadequate complaints procedures and poor customer service. Many feel they receive lower quality housing as a direct result of being employed in the Armed Forces. This is completely unacceptable and needs to change. Armed Forces families devote their lives to public service and they should be able to live in good quality housing.
"I am pleased that the Public Accounts Committee are conducting an inquiry and that they included my evidence from Gosport in their recent hearing. I will continue to pursue this matter closely with the Government and Carillion Amey until we see real change."
Following on from the hearing, the committee's report is due to be published next week.
