§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish tables showing(a) the number of new buildings, (b) the amount spent on new buildings, (c) the amount spent on repairs and maintenance and (d) the amount spent on building renovation by his Department in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Leigh[holding answer 5 December 1990]: The Department periodically gives up buildings and takes on others in response to lease conditions and operational needs. Some buildings are new and some are taken over from previous tenants. The number of new buildings taken on to the estate is not readily available.
Information is also not readily available to distinguish major project expenditure in new buildings from that on renovation of existing buildings. However, since 1 April 1988 total expenditure by the Department on major projects for both purposes has been:
£'000s 1988–89 17,784 1989–90 29,858 11990–91 39,800 1 Estimate. Before 1 April 1988 the Department of the Environment Property Services Agency was responsible for major project expenditure in buildings occupied by the Department of the Trade and Industry.
There has been a progressive transfer of responsibility for repair and maintenance expenditure from the 280W Department of the Environment Property Services Agency/Property Holdings to the Department of Trade and Industry with a particularly large transfer occurring in 1990–91 related to the division of the civil estate. The coverage of departmental expenditure is not therefore on a consistent basis over the period. However, expenditure on repairs and maintenance delegated to the Department over the last five years has been as follows:
£000s 1986–87 2,477 1987–88 2,857 1988–89 4,771 1989–90 4,710 1990–91 110,713 1 Estimate.