§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the square footage and cost of office space rented by his Department and its agencies and the number of his Department or agencies' buildings partly or fully unoccupied together with the square footage of that unoccupied office space and its estimated rental value where available in each of the past five financial years. [27720]
Mr. John M. TaylorPrior to 1 April 1996, Property Holdings—part of the Department of the Environment—was responsible for the vast majority of office space, including any vacant space, rented as part of the Government's civil estate. Retrospective information on the past five years is therefore not readily available and could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost.
Within my Department, management of property is now delegated to a series of property centres to maximise synergy with business operations. Rent, rates and service charges for office accommodation rented by DTI headquarters' property centres are forecast to cost £36 million in 1996–97 in respect of 1,257,000 sq. ft. Of this area, 24,000 sq. ft., or 2 per cent., in two partly occupied buildings, is empty and available for sub-letting, with an associated pro rata rent of £0.26 million. Identical information for agencies is not yet readily available except at disproportionate cost.