§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many employees of the Property 433W Services Agency (full-time equivalents) are engaged in selling real property (leasehold or freehold) owned by Government Departments.
§ Mr. ChopePSA controls the disposal programme estimated to bring in £124 million in 1987–88 for all surplus MOD and Government civil estate property. A central disposals unit of eight professional estates staff handles major MOD cases. Other disposals work is the responsibility of regional estates staff as part of their management activities. The time spent on disposals represents the equivalent of about 45 of these staff. Actual marketing of property is conducted by appointed agents.
§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list those clients other than Government Departments, for whom the Property Services Agency carried out work during the year ended 31 December 1987.
§ Mr. ChopeFollowing is a list of organisations other than Government Departments which paid in the year ending 31 December 1987 for works and estates services provided by PSA. Services for most of these clients were incidental to PSA's normal operations and the payments were small.
- The Oil and Pipeline Agency
- Hensol Hospital District
- Agricultural and Food Research Council
- Crown Agents
- Plymouth Navy Days Committee
- Welsh Health Common Services Authority
- Birmingham International Airport
- Oftel
- Building Services Research and Information Association
- Royal Commission, Environmental Pollution
- Government Communications Bureau
- Royal Mint
- Devonport Management Ltd.
- British Board of Agrément
- British Gas
- Hong Kong Government
- Brunei Government
- Gibraltar Government
- Royal Navy Museum Portsmouth
- RAF Museum Hendon
- Fleet Air-Arm Museum
- North West Regional Health Authority
- Liverpool Airport Merseyside County Council
- North Yorkshire Area Health Authority
- TAVR
- Council of Medical Education
- REME Training Centre Aborfield
- Federal German Armed Forces
- PAN AM
- Services Sound and Vision Corporation
- Inland Revenue Sports Association
- NAAFI
- Royal Scottish Academy
- The Sailors Fund
- West Yorkshire Police
- Air Training Corps
- Falkland Islands Government
- HQ Air Cadets
- Falkland Islands Development Commission
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Local Government Boundaries Commission
- Civil Service Sports Council
- Roe Motors
- BBC
- British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.
- Humberside Communications Equipment Ltd.
- Automobile Association
- Kilnwick Agrochemicals
- Yorkshire Water Authority
- Bristol County of Avon
434 - Post Office
- British Telecom
- Wessex Water Authority
- Carrick District Council
- Greenwich Hospital
- Royal College of Art
- Western European Union
- Scottish Research Reactor Centre
- WRVS Ltd.
- UKAEA
- NATO
- Forestry Commission
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Science and Engineering Research Council
- Royal Ordnance Factories plc
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- United States Armed Forces
- Fire Insurers research and Test Organisation
- Scottish Health Service Common Services Agency
- European School Culham
- Royal Hospital Chelsea
- Hydraulics Research Station
- Remploy
- Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England
- Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust
- Armouries HM Tower of London
- National Army Museum Chelsea
- Trox Bros Ltd.
- Portways-Vitaluscin
- ACE Filtration Ltd.
- Spantile Ltd.
- The Associates of the V and A
- P and S Speritex SRL
- The Law Society
- British Academy
- The Keep Britain Tidy Group
- Bondina Industrial
- Camfil Ltd.
- ITN TV
- BBC (Outside Broadcasts)
- Westminster City Council
- Epping Forest District Council
- Automet Filtration Ltd.
- TCA (UK) Ltd.
- Macbream Investments Ltd.
- Hunter International Ltd.
- Eastern Elecricity Board
- AJEX
- London Docklands Development Corporation
- Tesco Stores Ltd.
- Commonwealth Secretariat
- Windsor Festival Society Ltd.
- Glasfloss Europe SA
- Social Security Appeals Tribunal
- Universal Filters
- Interfilter Ltd.
- Filter Supply and Manufacturing Co Ltd.
- Derbyshire County Council
- Vokers Ltd.
- Catt Ewater Harbour Commissioners
- County of Cambridgeshire
- British National Oil Corporation
- Audit Commission
- British Airport Authority
- British Aerospace Ltd.
- 25 Next of Kins for War-Grave Headstones
§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people were employed by the Property Services Agency on 31 December 1987 and on the last day of each of the preceding eight years.
§ Mr. ChopeOn 31 December 1987 25,743 non-industrial and industrial staff were employed by the Property Services Agency (including staff in the Crown Suppliers and engaged on work for the United States forces). I regret that it is not possible, in the time available, to provide staff 435W numbers for the last day of each of the preceding eight years. The numbers employed on 1 April in those years, however, were:—
Number 1979 40,095 1980 36,626 1981 34,763 1982 31,512 1983 30,077 1984 28,747 1985 27,779 1986 27,009 1987 26,379
§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to reduce the numbers employed by the Property Services Agency.
§ Mr. ChopeFrom 1 April 1988 the number employed by the agency will depend on changes in the workload for client Departments and the money voted for resource costs, of which manpower costs are a part. The agency will continue to seek opportunities to reduce staff by contracting out more work to the private sector where that would result in better value for money.
§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many employees of the Property Services Agency have been prosecuted for fraud, theft or corruption during each of the past eight years; how many of those have been convicted; and how many have been disciplined but not prosecuted for such offences.
§ Mr. ChopeThe information requested (in respect of both non-industrial and industrial staff) is as follows:
(1) (2) (3) (4) Year Number of Officers Prosecuted Number of Officers Convicted Number of Officers Disciplined but not Prosecuted 1979 4 4 2 1980 5 5 6 1981 1 1 6 1982 11 10 8 1983 2 2 10 1984 5 5 9 1985 6 4 19 1986 5 3 4 1987 3 3 9 1988 1 1 — Notes:
1. The year in column 1 is that in which action on the cases was completed. There are six outstanding cases where officers have been charged but the prosecutions are not completed.
2. Column 4 includes a number of minor cases where the offence involved travel and subsistence claims or abuses of working hours rules etc.
§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to eliminate fraud, theft and corruption in the Property Services Agency.
§ Mr. ChopeThe Wardale report, published in 1983 drew attention to a number of weaknesses in the agency's436W defences against fraud and corruption. In 1984 there were allegations of major contractual irregularities in certain PSA London district works offices which culminated in the recent conviction of a number of PSA officials and contractors at the Central Criminal Court. Further trials relating to those allegations are pending.
In the period since 1984 the agency has taken a number of steps to combat both contractual and other forms of fraud, theft and corruption. In the contractual field detailed contract audits have been carried out across the whole of the agency's organisation and new procedures, including computerised records of all tenders, have been set up in key areas. Systematic and regular monitoring and inspections now take place in all district works offices. A special unit has been established to investigate suspected cases of fraud, theft and corruption and to undertake random inspections of individual PSA offices. A restructuring of the agency's regional organisation has included the strengthening of management control of district works offices.
By these various means I am sure that the agency has improved its defences against fraud, theft and corruption, but continued vigilance is essential and will be maintained.