§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement concerning investigations by the Property Services Agency into the removal of historic fixtures and fittings from the Probate Registry in Cardiff road, Llandaff, Cardiff.
§ Mr. YeoThe National Audit Office report claimed that considerable internal alterations some time ago had resulted in the removal of virtually all historic internal elements and little of much value remains within the Probate Registry in Llandaff.
It is clear that some of the early contents of this building, such as internal doors and fireplaces, were removed when part of it was converted into offices over 20 years ago—well before the building was listed. Much of the original interior still remains, however, including most of the ceilings, although these were hidden from the NAO inspector by false ceilings.
This property became the responsibility of Property Holdings on 1 April 1990 and during the financial year 1990–91 Property Holdings initiated masonry repairs, stonework cleaning and renewal of windows. In fact, previous masonry repairs using cement and stone dust have now been replaced with stonework closely matching the original Ashlar work and these high-standard repairs have been favourably commented upon by NAO in its report. The Lord Chancellor's Department, the occupant, accepted total maintenance responsibility for this property from 1 April 1991. It is, however, aware of the need to keep Property Holdings and the DOE conservation unit fully involved in any proposals to carry out future repairs or alterations.