§ Lord Dormand of Easingtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the number of "grace and favour" residences, who occupies them, how long those persons have occupied those residences, and what is the cost to the Exchequer.
47WA
Viscount AstorThere are 294 grace and favour houses and apartments within the Occupied Royal Palaces estate, plus 25 within the Historic Palaces estate.
Of the 294 within the Occupied Royal Palaces estate, eight are occupied by members of the Royal Family, 250 by Royal Household staff, 14 by the Military Knights at Windsor Castle and 22 by pensioners who previously worked for the Royal Household.
Of the 250 houses and apartments occupied by Royal Household staff, 66 are for stablehands and chauffeurs in the Royal Mews, 73 are for domestic staff, 35 are for maintenance workers and gardners, 11 are for fireman and gatekeepers and 65 are for administrative, secretarial and curatorial staff. The Royal Household has around 900 permanent employees.
Of the 25 apartments within the Historic Royal Palaces estate, eight are occupied by the Royal School of Needlework, the Textile Conservation Centre, the Building Conservation Trust and the Embroiderers Guild, eight by Royal Household staff and nine by pensioners. None of these occupiers are employees of Historic Royal Palaces.
Periods of occupancy for those occupied by staff are linked to service and vary accordingly. Pensioners occupy their grace and favour accommodation for life.
The cost of maintaining all the above grace and favour properties amounted to approximately £1,450,000 in the 1992/93 financial year.