§ Mrs. ClwydTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what was the cost to his Department of maintenance and running costs of(a) Buckingham palace, (b) Windsor castle, (c) Kensington palace, (d) St. James's palace, (e) Balmoral and (f) Sandringham in each of the last five years including periods when they were 1178W unoccupied; and what proportion of these sums is represented by employees' salaries. [16920]
§ Mr. Sproat[holding answer 28 March 1995]: The cost to my Department of maintenance and running costs of Buckingham palace, Windsor castle, Kensington palace, St. Jame's palace, Balmoral and Sandringham has been as follows:
£ million 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 Buckingham palace 7.53 6.56 5.47 6.62 Windsor castle 11.05 12.18 9.75 7.94 Kensington palace 0.84 0.64 1.11 1.36 St. James's palace 3.23 2.42 2.04 3.15 Balmoral 0.06 0.05 0.07 0.06 Sandringham 0.07 0.05 0.07 0.06 Costs that are not attributable by location 1.16 1.26 1.29 1.35 Total 23.94 23.16 19.80 20.54 The expenditure for Sandringham and Balmoral comprised costs incurred when Her Majesty the Queen was in residence on official duties; these two properties are not maintained by my Department.
Expenditure records are not available to my Department for the periods before 1991–92.
Not all salary costs are attributable by individual location. The total salary costs across the whole estate expressed as a percentage of the total grant in aid were as follows:
Per cent. 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 7.7 12.2 16.2 16.3 The increase in salary costs between 1991–92 and 1992–93 reflects the transfer of staff from PSA to the new property section. The increase between 1992–93 and 1993–94 principally reflects the setting up of the fire, health and safety branch following the Windsor castle fire.