HC Deb 26 November 1999 vol 339 cc214-5W
Ms Roseanna Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his estimate is of the current value of land and property(a) in Scotland, (b) in England and (c) in total owned or under the responsibility of (i) the Royal Fine Art Commission,(ii) the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, (iii) the Historic Royal Palaces Agency and (iv) the Royal Parks Agency (including property held in right of the Crown under the Crown Lands Act 1851). [99828]

Mr. Alan Howarth

Information on the value of the assets of these four bodies can be found in their latest annual reports, all of which are placed in the Libraries of the House. The offices of the former Royal Fine Art Commission and of the Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts are leased in the name of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and my Department has no interest in their freehold value. The land and property managed by Historic Royal Palaces and the Royal Parks Agency are held in right of the Crown. They are therefore inalienable, and a valuation of them has not been undertaken. None of these bodies owns or has responsibility for any property in Scotland.