§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment 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 together with the square footage of that office space and its estimated rental value where available in each of the past five financial years. [27729]
197W
§ Sir Paul BeresfordPrior to 1 April 1996, office accommodation on the civil estate was managed centrally by Property Holdings not by individual Departments. The information for the years requested is therefore not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
On 1 April my Department inherited from Property Holdings responsibility for the management of 1.4 million sq. ft. of rented office space in 100 buildings at a total cost of some £25 million in rents and rates of 1995–96 levels. Vacant office space totalled some 150,000 sq ft in 10 buildings at an estimated cost of £2.2 million for 1996–97, if none is occupied.
My Department also sponsors two crown bodies—the Buildings Research Establishment and the Health and Safety Executive—whose properties were not managed by Property Holdings. The information requested in respect of these bodies is as follows:
1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 BRE Square footage 19,786 19,786 19,786 19,786 19,786 Cost (£000s) 74 80 80 94 94 HSE Square footage 1,042,487 1,042,487 1,098,223 1,098,223 1,033,455 Cost (£000s) 6,603 7,729 8,155 9,173 8,836 The buildings used by these bodies have been fully occupied throughout the relevant period.