HC Deb 21 December 1954 vol 535 cc2585-6
36. Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenport

asked the Minister of Works the total number of Government offices; the estimated total number of civil servants employed therein; and the estimated rents paid by the Exchequer in the London district bounded by Park Lane, Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Piccadilly.

Mr. Birch

There are 18 offices in the charge of my Department in the area, housing about 6,700 staff. The estimated total rents, including an allowance for Crown freeholds, are about £440,000 per annum.

Lieut.-Colonel Bromley-Davenport

In view of the urgent need to economise as much as possible in the spending of the taxpayers' money, would it not be a good thing to let these bureaucrats work on less expensive sites? Could they not work equally well south of the river, say, near the Elephant and Castle? Could they not be more appropriately housed, say, near the gasometer at the Oval? Why must they work in the most expensive parts of Mayfair?

Mr. Birch

My hon. and gallant Friend is fertile in making useful suggestions, but he will have worked out already that the rent is about £66 per head, and for all headquarters offices in the London area the average is £63 per head, so that I do not think it is very much too high.

Mr. Isaacs

Is there not a risk that, if these civil servants were to work around the Elephant and Castle, they might go into the Elephant and Castle and get "elephant's trunk"?

Sir W. Darling

If my right hon. Friend increases the number of civil servants, will it not reduce the figure from £63 per head?