§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Sykes Accommodation report on the implications of closing the Hull Office of the HSE: [134242]
(2) what the cost was of the preparation of the Sykes report; and if it was distributed to trade unions and employers in the Humberside region. [134243]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 2 November 2000]: The business case for HSE's Yorkshire and North East Accommodation Review was co-ordinated by Jim Sykes, Head of the region's Specialist Group. A document entitled "Accommodation Review: Yorkshire and North East Region" setting out a range of options was prepared for internal use. Since it was believed that none of the accommodation changes identified would affect the level of service provided by HSE, the report was not circulated outside HSE. A copy of this document is, however, now being placed in the Libraries of the House, and is being sent to trade unions and employers in the Humberside region. No record exists of the cost of preparing the business case, but it is estimated that the document 757W "Accommodation Review: Yorkshire and North East Region" took about a week to prepare. This document followed earlier work by Mr. Sykes' predecessor who, it is thought, spent about two weeks on it with approximately two months' administrative support.