War of words explodes between former armed forces minister and the MoD as army is accused of 'playing down' soldiers' problem housing to spare itself embarrassment but it today agrees to pause controversial new allocation by family size rule

A war of words erupted in parliament after the Ministry of Defence of was accused of lying about Britain’s military’s housing scandal to spare itself ’embarrassment’.

In a bruising encounter in the Commons, ex-Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois claimed defence officials in Whitehall had deliberately misled MPs over the ‘safety’ of troops living in military quarters.

The Tory MP accused bureaucrats of giving ‘duff’ and ‘erroneous’ figures to defence minister James Cartlidge in June 2023 about how many soldiers were staying in homes that were potentially unsafe due to delayed gas safety checks.

Speaking at a Defence Committee hearing, Mr Francois said the MoD was ’embarrassed’ by the ‘media pounding’ it had been getting over the state of armed forces homes that it ‘didn’t want the truth’ about how many families might be at risk.

The allegation was swiftly denied by Mr Cartlidge, who insisted it was a ‘mistake’ and that he had ‘no evidence to believe’ anything ‘nefarious’ was happening at the MoD.

But a fired-up Mr Francois hit out back, telling MPs: ‘Well I put it to you Mr minister that there were some officials either in the department and or the DIO who were so embarrassed by the media pounding they were getting – quite rightly – that they wrote a letter which played down the extent of the problem, which you then had to write and correct two and a half weeks later.

In a bruising encounter in the Commons, ex-Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois claimed defence officials in Whitehall had deliberately misled MPs over the ‘safety’ of troops living in military quarters.

Mark Francois, a former Tory Armed Forces Minister

Defence minister James Cartlidge

‘You don’t have to be the most cynical man on God’s earth to believe that someone in the bowels of the organisation gave you duff information because they didn’t want the truth at that time to emerge.’

The parliamentary committee heard that in an address on June 21 last year, Mr Cartlidge was questioned about the issue as the story was ‘running hot in the media’ at the time, with the minister vowing to respond in a letter.

READ MORE: Ministers are blasted over the state of Armed Forces homes as it is revealed almost 800 are potentially unsafe due to delayed gas safety checks – as private contractors are given just weeks to sort out ‘unacceptable’ backlog

This letter arrived on July 31, Mr Francois said, where the minister ‘assured us there were no gas safety certificates that were longer than six month out of date’.

But, just weeks later on August 17, the minister wrote back to ‘correct’ his own letter, informing MPs there were in fact 29 homes whose gas checks were more than a year out of date.

Mr Francois added: ‘For the avoidance of doubt, no-one who knows you is suggesting for a nanosecond that you deliberately misled a parliament committee. Let’s stop any hares running there.

‘But somebody did. Somebody gave you a letter that you signed in good faith, with a bunch of statistics which turned out to be completely erroneous, about the safety of our armed forces personnel and their loved ones.’

Mr Cartlidge, who is in charge of defence procurement, insisted an ‘error’ had been made but claimed that there was a big difference between this and a deliberate effort to ‘mislead’ a parliamentary committee, which he believed had not happened.

Blaming a computer system for the apparent error, Mr Cartlidge added: ‘If I thought what you were saying is correct, I would be absolutely mortified. [But] I don’t believe that is the case. I think there was an error in providing me with these statistics.

The situation comes after the MoD paused new plans to allocate military housing based on family size rather than rank after a backlash from army families

‘What I can say is the first time I was asked by the committee about the issues of gas certificates I was as open as I could be about all the statistics at that time.

He added: ‘I am reliant on the statistics I’m given and, as you say, taking them in good faith, which I do. I believe they were produced in good faith and an error was made and at the earliest opportunity this was corrected.’

The situation comes after the MoD paused new plans to allocate military housing based on family size rather than rank after a backlash from army families.

The controversial proposals affecting Army, Navy and Royal Air Force personnel were halted amid fears that officers would resign, though the MoD is said to remain confident that a new launch date will be approved.

The standard of military housing is currently determined by rank. However, the Modernised Accommodation Offer (MAO) proposes allocating properties by family size.

It could mean that a married major with no children would be downgraded from a three or four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom, while a married private with three children would be entitled to a larger house than the major.

Fierce lobbying from a group of Army wives led to Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, (pictured) to drop the proposals

The proposal, known as the Modern Accomodation Offer (MAO), would have seen the Ministry of Defence give housing to families based on the number of children a serving member of the Army has

The plan, which was set to be launched in March, attracted criticism from officers and their partners, who argued the policy would lead to a breakdown in military cohesion by undermining hierarchical structures and penalising those who are infertile or choose not to have children.

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In response, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps halted the plans and has since ordered a review into the MAO.

Mr Francois described the pause as a ‘welcome victory for common sense, over bureaucracy’.

He added: ‘The proposals would have undermined morale, particularly among junior officers and thus the cohesion of the Army, so ministers were quite right to intervene and reverse them.’

Rosie Bucknall, the wife of an Army captain and a vocal campaigner against MAO, said: ‘This development is exactly what we have been hoping for.

‘We are thrilled the Defence Secretary has stepped in to apply common sense to such a drastic change and represent the interests of the people for whom he is responsible.’

A petition calling for a review of the MoD’s accommodation offer had received 19,900 signatures as of February 27. Many military wives were in this afternoon’s Defence Committee hearing.

Mrs Bucknall previously submitted written evidence to the Defence Committee on the social contract which sees officers trade long working hours, absence from family, unpredictable relocations and risk to life, for housing and education.

She wrote: ‘The “offer”, as those serving call it, has been persistently degraded over recent decades, with salaries and boarding education allowance now a fraction of what they used to be,’ she said, adding: ‘Now they are dismantling our access to decent housing.’

The families of Army staff are often forced to move around the UK every couple of years, and rarely have a say in where they get to live

Mrs Bucknall described the plans as an ‘utter betrayal’, adding: ‘If rolled out as planned, it is abundantly clear this accommodation policy will only damage further the trusted relationship between Army officers and the institution they serve.

‘The delicate social contract upon which the Army is balanced may be broken irretrievably if (MAO) is not reconsidered.’

Some 792 Army officers left the service in the last quarter, compared with a typical rate of 450 to 550.

For those who have left, the most frequently cited reason was ‘impact on family and personal life’, according to a 2023 survey conducted by the MoD.

More than 300 officers took part in a social media survey, of which 78% said they would be prepared to leave the armed forces if their accommodation entitlement were to be reduced.

The MoD remains optimistic that the plans would be approved after feedback had been taken on board.

Its spokesperson said: ‘Our Armed Forces personnel make extraordinary sacrifices to protect our nation, which is why our Modernised Accommodation Offer gives greater flexibility, backed by an extra £200 million investment.

‘This is on top of £4 billion to upgrade accommodation and build new living quarters for our service personnel over the next decade.

‘Based on feedback from service personnel, the MAO will improve the standard of Single Living Accommodation, help military personnel get on the housing ladder by refunding up to £1,500 of expenses and give personnel more preference in how they live.

‘We are committed to widening entitlement to those in established long-term relationships and parents with non-resident children, but we have listened to feedback and are therefore pausing the rollout of the elements of the policy related to SFA (Service Family Accommodation), including the move to needs based allocation and in the short term the widening of entitlement.’

The matter is expected to be discussed at a Defence Committee hearing on service accommodation on Tuesday afternoon.

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