Serving personnel allowed to give evidence at inquiry on military housing 

The Defence Sub-Committee is to allow serving personnel to contribute written evidence to an inquiry into service accommodation, after receiving special dispensation from the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Under MOD rules, any contact between serving members of the UK Armed Forces and parliamentarians must be authorised in advance through ministers.

Previously, the MOD refused the committee's request to allow serving personnel to contribute, on the basis that they already had routes to give feedback or raise issues with accommodation.

• British Army officer 'tired of living like this' as baby sleeps in mouldy military home 
• More than 40% of personnel in Scotland living in lowest grade of service accommodation, new figures reveal 
• Military wife campaigner says service housing maintenance system 'is chaos'

The Sub-Committee wrote to the Defence Secretary in September saying the decision "does not make sense, when serving personnel know the most about what it's like to live in that accommodation and have been and will continue to be affected by MOD policy such as Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contracts and the New Accommodation Model".

The state of service accommodation has been a source of controversy, with photos and videos being shared on social media showing what appears to be some of the poor conditions in which some personnel have to live.   

The latest figures from the MOD show satisfaction with life in the Armed Forces has fallen for the second year in a row.

The figures, released in June, show satisfaction with the overall standard of Service Family Accommodation fell from 52% in 2022 to 46%.

While levels of satisfaction with aspects of Single Living Accommodation have stayed unchanged since last year, they do remain at the lowest reported levels.