§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Department spent on(a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997. [134685]
§ Mr. AlexanderAdmiralty House contains residential accommodation for Ministers and the occupying Departments are responsible for relevant costs associated with each of the residential flats. No Cabinet Office Ministers are currently accommodated in Admiralty House. The Cabinet Office is responsible for costs associated with the common parts, as well as for maintaining the fabric of the entire building.
The Cabinet Office's share of the maintenance costs of Admiralty House for 2002–03 was £2,295.
From February 2002 to September 2002, a major electrical rewiring, asbestos removal and redecoration project was undertaken to the ground floor state rooms and two of the residential flats. The cost of this work (which was borne by the Cabinet Office) was £629,266.
The Cabinet Office's share of the running costs of Admiralty House (i.e. excluding the appropriate share of the costs from the occupying Departments) for 2002–03 was £631,421.
Information about the costs of official residences used by Ministers for previous financial years is already in the public domain.
880Wareas within the Cabinet Office's Regulatory Impact Unit, and therefore do not 'meet' in the way an ad-hoc Board or committee might do.
The Resource Outturn for these teams since their inception is as follows:
Two Cabinet Office officials occupy accommodation in residential properties in the grounds of the Emergency Planning College in Easingwold. One flat is occupied by an official working at the Emergency Planning College on detached duty. The other occupant pays a market rent for the property, which was established by a valuation conducted within the past 18 months by independent valuers appointed by the Office of Government Commerce. Records are not held separately of the maintenance, renovation and running costs associated with these properties in particular and these costs could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The council tax for 2002–03 associated with the property occupied by the individual on detached duty was approximately £175. For 1997–98, the council tax associated with properties occupied by college employees was approximately £190, for 1998–99 and 1999–2000 no college employees resided in college properties, for 2000–01 the approximate council tax was £50, and for 2001–02 the council tax was approximately £150.
From 1997 to May 2002, some officials were accommodated in civil service college properties on the college's Sunningdale estate. The individual occupants of the properties were responsible for paying the rents that had been established by independent valuers. From June 1999 to March 2000, a number of general repairs were made, to some of the residential dwellings occupied by college staff, amounting to £20,827. In October 2000, £365 was spent on repairs. In January 2002, £3,160 was spent on repairs. There may have been other costs incurred under a maintenance contract let to cover the whole of the Sunningdale Park estate, however, it is not possible to disaggregate costs to a level of individual building. The individual occupants were responsible for their own council tax and running costs (such as utility bills).