§ 1. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Works how many additional square feet of office accommodation have 2 been provided for Government Departments in London since October, 1951; and the total cost thereof.
§ The Minister of Works(Mr. P. G. T. Buchan-Hepburn)Excluding Post Office accommodation, new hirings and new Crown buildings in the period mentioned amount to 1,243,000 square feet at an annual cost of £530,000. But against this 2,650,000 square feet of office space has been given up, at an annual saving of £936,000. Since October, 1951, there has therefore been a net reduction of 1,400,000 square feet, and a net annual saving of £406,000.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonHow does the Minister justify the continued expansion of new building that is going on, bearing in mind that over the past five years we have had 50,000 fewer people employed in the civil Departments? What is the use of asking other people to economise if the Government do not set an example?
§ Mr. Buchan-HepburnThe hon. and gallant Gentleman knows that Government building has been very much curtailed. What is behind my Answer, of course, is the fact that we are surrendering requisitioned property—with which I am sure, the hon. and gallant Gentleman agrees—and replacing it by hirings, and, to a smaller extent, new buildings.