§ Mr. GarnierTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the establishment of the agency to be derived from Property Holdings when Departments take responsibility in 1996.
§ Mr. GummerAs my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced on 26 May 1994,582W Property Holdings is to be replaced by a new next steps agency, Official Report, column 225. The agency to be established from 1 April 1996, will be known as Property Advisers to the Civil Estate—PACE. It will be responsible for co-ordinating the Government's market activity on the civil estate; for promoting its rationalisation; and for providing Departments with advice and support in the management of their estates. It will be organised in accordance with the principles set out in the civil service White Paper—Cm 2627—with a flexible and non-hierarchical management structure, and with responsibility devolved to the lowest possible level. Its chief executive will be Mr. Neil Borrett, who has been director of Property Holdings since 1990. It will have a complement of about 200 staff, spread between six regional offices in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol, through which it will help keep in close touch with developments in local property markets.