Grace and Favour Residence (Hansard, 2 July 1975)

§ 14. Mr. William Hamilton
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much has been spent on the grace and favour residences for which he is responsible; and if he will give the details of the sums to be spent on the separate residences in each of the next two years.

§ Mr. Oakes
Total expenditure over the last two financial years was approximately £100,000. In 1975–76 the expenditure on 1454 these services is likely to be about £80,000 on 16 properties. The programme for the following year has not yet been determined but will probably be lower.

§ Mr. Hamilton
Is my hon. Friend aware, and does he agree, that £500,000 is to be spent on Kensington Palace alone? Is it not time to tell both the landlord and the tenants that the party is over and that in future they must finance the maintenance of these places themselves?

§ Mr. Oakes
I know of my hon. Friend's well-known concern for all tenants of tied cottages. Perhaps I could tell him that the expenditure on these houses is in fact expenditure by officials of the Palace. These are not the grace and favour houses that go to public servants. These are officials of the Palace, and in this field as in all others, we are aware of the need to curtail expenditure, which is at present reducing.

§ Mr. Costain
To put this matter in perspective, does not the Minister agree that a number of these grace and favour houses are national monuments, many of them occupied by—

§ Mr. Hamilton
Like you.

§ Mr. Costain
I would be very proud to be a national monument. However, many of them are occupied by women whose husbands have given great service to the nation. The country would be a much poorer place if we were not able to give them decent housing.

§ Mr. Oakes
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is a national monument. I think that he is a national institution. However, the amount of money spent to which I have referred does not relate to those grace and favour houses which go to public servants or their widows. This money is spent on apartments, and so on, for officials of the Palace.