§ Mr. Hannamasked the Prime Minister, in view of the refusal of the South-West water authority to lease unoccupied offices of the district health authority in Exeter and instead to erect a new building, if she will set up procedures to require public utilities to establish that no suitable public buildings are unoccupied before erecting new offices.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is already our policy to ensure that land no longer needed by public bodies is publicly identified on land registers and disposed of as soon as practicable. I agree entirely that public bodies needing accommodation should always consider first whether their requirements could be met by existing buildings listed on these registers or otherwise advertised as available. I am not however convinced that it is necessary to go so far as to impose a general procedure for advance scrutiny of this kind.
In the case of the new headquarters building for the South-West water authority, we did, in fact, invite the authority to consider the former health authority offices at Renslade House. However, this option turned out to be more expensive than a new building; the house was not big enough; and the facilities were inadequate.