§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and food 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 space footage of that unoccupied office space and its estimated rental value where available in each of the past five financial years. [27732]
§ Mr. BoswellThe Ministry occupies both freehold and leasehold—rented—accommodation. On 1 April 1996, the Ministry rented some 580,000 sq ft. of office accommodation for its own use at a rental cost of approximately £8 million per annum.
Of this area, some 33,700 sq ft. of accommodation with a rental cost of £334,000 was vacant pending disposal.
Owing to changes in responsibility for management of the Crown estate which came into effect on 1 April 1996 and changes in the way that Departments have been charged for leasehold accommodation, comparable details for previous years could be made available only at disproportionate cost.