§ 18. Dame Joan Vickersasked the Minister of Public Building and Works, what have been the cost of providing accommodation for civil servants since 1964; and what is the cost of the accommodation required by the new civil servants, in order to administer the Government legislation passed since 1964.
§ Mr. MellishFrom October, 1964, to October, 1967, the annual cost of renting offices for Government Departments—other than the Post Office—and of rates, maintenance, services etc., averaged about £50 million. This includes the cost—now running at about £10 million a year—of additional accommodation taken during that period which was obviously necessitated, for some time after October, 1964, by decisions of the previous administration. Under it the number of civil servants grew from about 375,000 in 1958 to over 415,000 in 1964.
Separate figures are not available for the cost of accommodating new civil servants administering legislation passed since 1964.
§ Dame Joan VickersWhile thanking the right hon. Gentleman for that reply. may I ask him to make every effort to reduce this number? Surely this could be one of the Government's economies?
§ Mr. MellishThe hon. Lady is asking the wrong Minister the wrong Question. When civil servants are taken on in any of the Government services my job is to provide accommodation for them. My 14 policy is to buy rather than rent accommodation, because in the long term it is cheaper for the country.