§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what(a) number and (b) percentage of properties in his charge are empty; and what steps are 341W being taken by his Department to reduce the numbers of such properties. [116922]
§ Mr. RookerIn early 1998, all of the Department's properties were transferred to the private sector under two separate Private Finance Initiative contracts. We no longer hold or own any property. Instead, serviced accommodation is purchased from our two private sector partners, Trillium plc and the Newcastle Estate Partnership.
The deal that we negotiated with Trillium, the PRIME contractor, allowed us to hand back all of our "surplus" space, in both wholly and partly occupied buildings. On 1 April 1998, 134,991 sq m of vacant space transferred to Trillium so that there is now no continuing cost to the Department. The Department also has the flexibility to vacate and hand back further space over the period of the contract, at nil cost.
As a result of the PRIME contract there are now no vacant properties still being paid for by the Department.