CONFIDENTIAL
C.P. (49) 161
23rd July, 1949.
Printed for the Cabinet. July 1949
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Page 206 ·
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Copy No. 31
CABINET
MARRIED QUARTERS FOR THE SERVICES
MEMORANDUM BY THE MINISTER Of Defence
The provision of married quarters for the armed forces is a matter of the highest importance to their efficiency. At present the number of married quarters available is quite inadequate. Many officers and men are obliged to find their own accommodation. This often means unsuitable quarters or excessive charges-not infrequently both. All this reacts on the attractiveness of the Services as a career and there is no doubt that it has been one of the most important factors contributing to serious wastage of personnel and inability to recruit replacements on an adequate scale. This wastage means that unnecessary expense is involved in training men for relatively short periods. Further, the lack of the necessary core of highly trained regulars has a bad effect on the efficiency of the forces as a whole.
2. A substantial improvement in the provision of married quarters would make a real contribution to the solution of the Service personnel problem and would be a wise investment from the national point of view.
3. Hitherto the construction of married quarters in the Services has been paid for out of Service Votes. The pressure on Service Votes for meeting unavoidable commitments is very great and I am satisfied that, if the matter were left on the basis that the Service Departments might build only such houses as they could afford out of their fixed annual budgets, we should certainly not achieve that real improvement in the rate of construction of houses for the Services which the situation demands. The difficulty is particularly pronounced in the case of the Admiralty, for whom married quarters are an innovation, and who have therefore a large leeway to make good.
4. This matter has been before Ministers on several occasions in the past. On 22nd February, when the Defence Committee were considering the Statement on Defence, 1949 (D.O. (49) 6th Meeting, Minute 2), I was invited to study the matter and propose further action; and on 28th February (C.M. (49) 16th Conclu- sions, Minute 3) the Cabinet agreed that during the defence debate in the House of Commons I should give an assurance that the Government would make a special effort to provide additional married quarters for the Services. Accordingly, with the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Minister of Health, I included in my speech on 3rd March the following statement :-
"The Government are giving urgent consideration to any practical possibilities of expanding the present programme of housing and are making every effort to ensure the most rapid progress in these areas where the need is particularly acute."
5. There has been much discussion as to the best way of helping the Services in this matter. In view of the impossibility of making rapid and effective provision out of the annual Service estimates, a number of suggestions have been considered, and the following is the best alternative to whichphe Trees F 8yld
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6. Page 2017stofi&ton of houses by local authoriages are loans from the Public Works Loan Board. The suggestion was made that the construction of married quarters for the Services, which is equally a contribution to the housing requirements of the country, should also be financed by loan, and that accordingly powers should be taken to allow the Treasury, subject to certain conditions, to lend money from the Consolidated Fund to the Service Departments for the construction of married quarters. When this suggestion was first put forward objection was raised to it on the ground that it would involve borrowing money for military works. The fact is, however, that, while some houses in remote areas are really a part of the military works with which they are associated, the general body of housing provided for the Services can fairly be said to contribute to meeting the housing needs of the country as a whole. Indeed, during the Defence Committee discussion referred to earlier in this memorandum, the suggestion was made that it was wrong for the cost of married quarters in the Services to fall on Service votes, and that (while Service Departments would have to build the houses) they should be regarded as an addition to the country's housing accommodation and their cost should be grouped with other general housing costs.
7. I have discussed these ideas with the Chancellor, who has agreed that the Service Departments should be empowered to borrow money for the construction of married quarters provided the condition is attached that money is only borrowed in this way for houses in respect of which it could be agreed (under some procedure to be decided upon) that, if the Service personnel were reduced in numbers or withdrawn altogether, there would be a reasonable prospect of the occupation of the houses by the civilian population. Housing abroad, or which did not satisfy this criterion at home, would still be paid for out of Service Votes.
8. The discussions which have taken place with the Service Departments suggest that the Chancellor of the Exchequer's condition would operate harshly on the War Office and Air Ministry (particularly the latter, as a high proportion of their sites necessarily lie in remote places). The difficulty of the Admiralty in satisfying this condition would probably be less pronounced. Much as I would like the Chancellor of the Exchequer to remove his restriction I realise that it is the best he feels able to do for the forces and I feel myself it would be a real help to them.
9. Legislation would be required to give effect to this proposal. This should not be a serious obstacle, as I should hope the necessary Bill would be a fairly straightforward one and its purpose, namely, the provision of married quarters for the Services, seems likely to receive a wide measure of support as calculated to stimulate recruitment and in many other ways to add to the efficiency of the armed forces.
10. The Bill would, of course, include a clause limiting the sum which can be borrowed in this way. It is difficult at present to say what this upper limit should be. Much would necessarily depend on how the Chancellor's restriction is applied. If applied severely much of the purpose of the Bill will be defeated. I propose to settle with the Chancellor what the figure should be on the footing that the restriction will be applied in a fairly liberal way. In fixing the figure, I shall have in mind the sum that is likely to be required in order to finance a four-year programme, though it will, of course, be desirable to avoid committing the Govern- ment to spend the sum in that period when the Bill is presented to Parliament.
11. I therefore invite the Cabinet to agree that a Bill on the lines indicated should be drafted and laid before Parliament as soon as can conveniently be arranged.
Ministry of Defence, S.W. 1,
23rd July, 1949.