§ Ms Roseanna CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what his estimate is of the value of land and property held by his core Department(a) in Scotland and (b) in total; [99820]
(2) what his estimate is of the value of land and property (a) in Scotland and (b) in total held by (i) the Benefits Agency (including freehold, leasehold and historical leasehold offices), (ii) the Child Support Agency, (iii) the War Pensions Agency, (iv) the IT Services Agency and (v) the Independent Statutory Bodies; and what is the total value of assets for each of these bodies. [99819]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 26 November 1999]: In early 1998 all of the Department's land and property throughout the UK, both freehold and leasehold, was transferred to the private sector under two separate Private Finance Initiative contracts. We now no longer own nor hold any land or property. Instead serviced office accommodation is purchased from our two private sector partners, Trillium and the Newcastle Estate Partnership.
90WUnder the PRIME contract, assets related to the properties were transferred to Trillium. The Department, however, retains a relatively small amount of low value property related assets in the Newcastle Estate.
The total net book value of all fixed assets held by the Department's Executive Agencies at 31 March 1999 is as follows:
£ Benefits Agency 34,220,000 Child Support Agency 7,327,000 War Pensions Agency 1,035,000 Information Technology Services Agency 25,153,000 For the Department's Independent Statutory Bodies, valuation information is being developed as part of the implementation of resource accounting. This information is currently being audited. The first set of resource accounts will be published in respect of 1999–2000.