§ Mr. BrowneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement about recent developments concerning the DSS Estates. [22354]
§ Ms HarmanTo support our aims for an active modern service and further to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney) on 31 July 1997,Official Report, columns 591–94, I have today authorised the signing of a contract with Partnership Property Management Limited, which will own and 362W provide the Department with serviced accommodation throughout the country, except for the Tyneside area, which is covered by a separate project. The contract will start on 1 April 1998. This is an imaginative and innovative form of partnership with the private sector which will bring specialist expertise to the management of the estate; deliver improved value for money; result in more investment in our buildings; and allow us to share in gains realised by property developments. It gives us more flexibility to adjust the buildings we occupy to meet our changing service needs, while retaining control over location of our offices. This project, PRIME, has been a major Government procurement. It is a pathfinder project which puts this Department at the forefront of the way in which the public sector manages property.