§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many empty buildings his Department currently owns; what is the cost of insuring and securing these buildings; how many were designed as residential properties; and what was the total amount spent by his Department on empty property taxes in each of the last five years. [14567]
§ Mr. HowardThe Home Office assumes accountability for all the office in which it has occupations, including any vacant space therein, from 1 April 1996. Up to that date, responsibility for the whole of the Government common user (office) estate in which Government Departments were housed rests with Property Holdings. That part of the question is, therefore, a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment.
The Home Office has 208 empty properties on its departmental estates at the present time. Of these, 192 are residential properties on the prisons estate, most of which are temporarily vacant awaiting new tenants.
As a general rule, the Government carry their own insurance risk. The costs of securing these properties and the total amount spent by the Home Office on empty property taxes in the last five years cannot be readily identified without disproportionate cost.