Relocation (Hansard, 9 June 1992)

§ Mr. Caborn
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of requests from the different regions of the United Kingdom offering locations for redeployed civil servants from Marsham street.

§ Mr. Howard
Since the announcement by my predecessor on 6 February that No. 2 Marsham street was to be demolished, my Department has received representations on behalf of Nottinghamshire, Pembrokeshire, Plymouth, Sheffield, Tyne and Wear, York and the Wirral. The Department of Transport, who also occupy No. 2 Marsham street, have received approaches in respect of east Kent, Nottinghamshire and York.

§ Mr. Caborn
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the criteria on which he based the decision to relocate civil servants from his Department to Canary Wharf.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the criteria(a) previously used and (b) proposed to be used by his Department in assessing the value for money of alternative locations for the staff he proposes to move from Marsham street.

§ Mr. Howard
I have decided to move staff of my Department to Docklands; Canary Wharf is only one of 149W the properties being considered. The posts which are being relocated need to remain within London because they carry out work which requires regular contact with Ministers. I have decided on a move to Docklands because the advice I have received is that the best value for money which is currently available is to be found there. Some 2,000 posts will relocate to Docklands, provided that we secure fully commercial terms giving value for money to the taxpayer. In deciding between properties in Docklands I shall consider non-financial factors (such as the quality of the working environment; the efficiency, accessibility and environmental standards of the buildings; and the convenience and safety of staff) as well as financial ones.

§ Ms. Quin
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the future location of the 3,000 civil servants from his Department who are not to be transferred to Canary Wharf.

§ Mr. Howard
I have decided to move staff of my Department to docklands; Canary Wharf is only one of the properties being considered. Other staff will continue to be located elsewhere in London, including Westminster, or in their existing locations outside. A large number of posts have already been moved out of London over recent years, and some 40 per cent. of my staff now work outside London. Those who remain in the capital are those with a need for regular contact with Ministers.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to publish the full terms of any lease taken on premises in docklands to accommodate staff of his Department moved from Marsham street.

§ Mr. Baldry
No. Any lease taken for premises in docklands will be the result of a commercial negotiation and as such will be confidential to the Department and the developer concerned in accordance with long-established policy in these matters.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any proposals to bus in staff relocated to docklands.

§ Mr. Howard
I have undertaken to put in place arrangements to help to minimise the effects of a move to docklands on the staff of my Department. The details have yet to be settled.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his current estimate of redundancies arising from the demolition of the Marsham street offices and the relocation in docklands.

§ Mr. Howard
Staff in non-mobile grades who choose not to move to docklands will be eligible for redundancy.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the office rentals available in docklands in the first(a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 years compared with those available in (i) Sheffield and (ii) elsewhere outside London.

§ Mr. Baldry
Current rents and terms now on offer in docklands compare favourably with other parts of the United Kingdom.
The possibility of the large rental increases in the future has been foreseen and my officials are considering how 150W best that risk can be minimised in the negotiations referred to in the Secretary of State's statement of 2 June on this matter.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the alternative sites he considered as possible locations for staff to be transferred from Marsham street; and if he will give the reasons in each case why such sites have been rejected.

§ Mr. Howard:
My Department's advisers identified four locations as best meeting the Department's needs for relocation within London, all of them in docklands. I have ruled out one of those four, Thomas More square, Wapping, because it is very much more expensive than the other three. Three—Harbour Exchange, Canary Wharf and East India Dock—remain under consideration.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of office sites in Sheffield as a potential destination for staff relocated from Marsham street; and if he will list the criteria which caused a site in docklands to be preferred.

§ Mr. Howard
The staff of my Department who are to be relocated to docklands need to be in London because they need to have regular contacts with Ministers. The question of assessing sites in Sheffield does not arise.