§ Mrs. Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans he has to review the need to employ in London the 19,047 persons who are employed by his Department in London headquarter offices;
(2) what plans he has to reduce the 2,084,807 square feet of office space at present occupied by his Department in London and to reduce the number of the 33 buildings also occupied by his Department.
§ Mr. Reynolds:I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. E. Rowlands) on 22nd November, 1967. When the moves to which I then referred are completed approximately half of the Headquarters staff of the Ministry of Defence will be based outside Central London. No other major dispersal of 605W Ministry of Defence staff from London is at present contemplated.
The amount of office space occupied by the Department in London is directly related to the numbers of staff employed there and is governed by space standards approved for all civil servants.—[Vol. 754, c.368.]