North Wiltshire MP James Gray has called on the Coalition Government to do more to enhance the provision of accommodation for service personnel and their families.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Mr Gray praised the Government for what is has done since coming into office to upgrade housing for servicemen and women, but warned that further improvements were necessary.

James Gray MP said: “The provision of decent accommodation, for both single servicemen and married couples—and, indeed, for families—is central to the military covenant. There is so much more to be done, and even the announcements that the Armed Forces Minister has made are not yet all that could be done.”

In response, Nick Harvey, Minister for the Armed Forces, said that 96 per cent of houses were in the top two tiers of condition, before acknowledging that more needed to be done in the case of single living accommodation.

Mr Harvey said: “We continue to make substantial investments, which were further boosted by the additional funds that were made available last week in the Budget. More than 96per cent of family accommodation in the UK is in either condition 1 or 2, and we are now meeting the commitment in the armed forces covenant that no family accommodation will be newly allocated if it falls in condition 3 or 4.”

“There is more to be done in the case of single living accommodation, but that work continues apace. Even as we speak, the Allenby Connaught project is continuing to deliver new units of single living accommodation across Salisbury Plain and in Aldershot.”

Mr Gray added: “I’m delighted that the Ministry of Defence is taking the issue of upgrading accommodation for our brave servicemen and women very seriously. I very much welcome the announcements in last week’s budget, which highlight the Government’s continuing commitment to improving service accommodation.”