Thousands of Service personnel and their families are to see their homes refurbished sooner than planned as details of how a £50m advance from the Treasury will be spent.

The cash injection, which was announced as part of the Budget on 22 April 2009, is part of a wider package of Government fiscal stimulus measures in the construction sector.

The £50m advanced to Defence Estates is to be spent on improvements to both Single Living Accommodation and Service Families Accommodation throughout the UK, which will benefit members of all three Services.

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Kevan Jones, Under Secretary of State for Defence, said: "The announcement to advance £50m for improving Service accommodation is great news for the thousands of Service personnel and their families whose homes can now be refurbished even sooner than planned. These funds will allow us to target improvements at those returning from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"In the week leading up to Armed Forces Day on Saturday, this is a further opportunity to prove that we are absolutely committed to ensuring that Service personnel and their families get the decent standards of accommodation that they deserve."

Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, Chief Executive of Defence Estates, said: "More than 1,500 Service personnel will benefit directly from this initiative. The advance of spend for capital projects, together with £10m of funding which we have also made available, will allow us to accelerate our building and modernisation programme. This is excellent news for everyone."

(CD/JM)